The Sun.
London, England, 1864-10-25 00:00:00

THE DUKE OF AUGUSTENBURG,

BERLIN, Oct. 23.
The semisofficial NorddeutscheAllgemethe Zeitung
of to-day makes the following statement with re.
gard to the Duke of Augustenburg :
" Prussia and Austria had placed their signa-
tures to the London protocol not because they had
greater sympathy with the line of Glucksburg than
with any other line, but because, in 1851, the pro-
tocol appeared to those Powers the best means of
defending the rights of German nationality in the
Duchies against Danish encroachment. This means
with regard to Danish policy has proved ineffectual.
It would have proved equally ineffectual had the
choice of the Powers assenting to the protocol fallen
upon any other Prince in the regulation of the
succession question. Had the condition of affairs
at the conclusion of the London protocol been
of such a nature that instead of the Glucks-
burg the Augustenburg line had been summoned
to the Danish throne, the armies of the German
great Powers in 1864 would have fought against
the Danes under the leadership of the Duke of
Augastenburg. Thus stood the matter. At the
moment when King Frederick VII. died the Ger-
man great Powers waged a war for the interest of
Germany and of the German inhabitants of the
Duchies, but they waged no war for the interests of
the hereditary Prince of Augustenburg, whom they
in fact would have fought against had he by the
treaties of 1851 been declared the successor to the
Danish Crown.

The Franco-Italian Convention,

The Memorial Diplomatique has the subjoined—

"Diplomatic communications of recent date have
definitively enlightened the French Government
as the attitude taken by the Austrian Cabinet in
presence of the Franco-Italian Convention of the
15th September. The Cabinet of Vienna is desirous
of an alliance with France, as it has been in the
past and will be in the future. Such is the gene-
ral situation, and no circumstance has hitherto
transpired to produce any change. As to the
treaty of the 15th September, the Austrian Govern.
ment declares that it accepts with confidence the
guarantee with which the French Government had
surrounded it. lii its eyes the value of the treaty
consists solely in the signature of France; but that
suffices for the Cabinet of Vienna, and it desires
nothing more. As a proof of the sincerity of its
intentions towards France, the Austrian Govern-
ment engages not to exert any influence on the
ulterior determinations of the Holy Father. If the
Pope consults the Cabinet of Vienna as to the course
he shall take with regard to the Roman Conven-
tion, the Cabinet of Vienna will advise his Holiness
to accept purely and simply the situation induced
by the new arrangements. Only, according as that
situation shall be developed in one sense or another,
Austria reserves for that moment its rights as a
Catholic Po xer.
The same journal likewise says :

"We are informed that Spain has addressed to
the French Government its answer to the commu-
nication of the Fracco-Italian Treaty of the 15th
Sept. The Cabinet declares that it has no wish to
oppose any obstacle to the development of the
situation produced by the Convention signed by
France. It adds that it relies on the engagements
taken by the Cabinet of the Tuileries to keep Italy
and the Italians within the letter of the treaty, and
that Spain has not at present, in its quality as a
Catholic Power, any objection to make against the
arrangements concluled."

PARIS, OCT. 22.

The new pamphlet, of which a summary has
been telegraphed, is entitled "La Convention du
15 Septembre, 1541,P and is supposed to proceed
from a semi-official source. Its main argument
seems directed to prove that France and Italy can
have no other object iu view than to execute faith-
fully and loyally all the points of the convention,
securing the possession of Rome to the Pope, and
granting Florence as the defiuitive capital of Italy.
The pamphlet concludes as follows :
" France is alone at Rome, because she is there
carrying out the common task of Catholicity; but
if, after long and! persevering efforts, she should not
attain her object by reason of the duplicity of Italy,
as the question of the Papacy is not of a kind
which can always remain without solution,
it is probable that the Catholic Powers
would ultimately put in their claim to take part
in the matter. In place, then, of sympathis-
ing with France, the Italians might well end
by having the Austrians, the Spaniards, the Por-
tuguese and Bavarians at Rome; that is to say,
neighbours who would perhaps not so much assist
as we should in the removal of the difficulties in-
herent to the position of the Italian Kingdom.
" These eventualities, which the most ordinary
common.sense indicates, have been seen by Italian
statesmen as well,as by us, and it is to remove them
that they have desired, in getting the Convention
of the 15th of September last to obtain the assist•
ante of France.

" The time at which France should draw her
troops from Rome, was pointed out in advance by
the very object of her policy—it was the time when
in quitting the States of the Church she could leave
behind her the Papacy respected and guarded by
Italy herself. The evacuation was opportune, it
was even necessary, as soon as it became possible
without danger—but if the value which the French
Government attaches to the independence of the
Holy See has been hitherto placed beyond doubt by
15 years of respectful and Efficacious protection, it is
rendered still less dubious by the precautions with
which the execution of the Convention of Sept. 15
has been surrounded.

"France assuredly believes in the loyalty of the
Italian Government, since she has accepted its en.
gagements ; but, without attaching any doubt to its
desire to remain faithful to them, she has been able
to foresee the difficulties which, in a country still
agitated and occupied with its definitive organisation
hostile parties might entail upon their punctual exe-
cution. It is to give Italy time to strengthen herself
in her new resolutions, and to draw nearer to the
Holy See that. France has stipulated the delay of two
years for the entire evacuation of Rome; it is fur-
ther, and, above all, to give the Papacy time to seek,
to ripen, and to organise, without surprise and pre•
cipitation, the means which France has reserved by
the convention, with a view of providing for its in-
ternal security. Under the shadow of the Frey flog
the new army will be organised, small but sufficien.
to maintain order, and composed of elements which
the Holy Father will have judged the most appro-
priate to his position. Those who, having lived in
Italy, know that the population of the villages, and
tho immense majority of the population of Rome,
are at bottom devoted to the Papacy and its paternal
rule, are also aware that the problem of the security
of Rome is reduced to watching and keeping down
a certain number of blunderers such as all great
cities contain. A small army, supported by the
goodwill of the Roman population, will be sufficient
for this task, as coon as the ItE;lian Com:ln:lent shall

have rendered it more facile by its loyal co•opera.
tion.

" Thus there will be solved, to the honour of
France and of her Government, this delicate and
difficult Roman question, which has caused such
well-grounded uneasiness in the Catholic mind. We
aro sufficiently acquainted with the wisdom of the
Holy Father to feel persuaded that his Government
will not give to overexcited minds any of the pre-
texts they will not fail to seek to lay obstacles in the
way of the happy and proximate reconciliation of
the Papacy and Italy."