The Sun.
London, England, 1863-02-03 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TIMES.—In any country but the France of Napo-
leon 111. the singular political event which has just
occurred would be looked upon as an omen of sinis-
ter import. A Prince of the Blood, the only mem-
ber of the Imperial family who has a name and a:po-
sition in Europe, has thought fit to stand alone in
opposition to the Address of the Senate, and to pro-
claim to the world in the most emphatic manner
that he and his cousin are at variance on the most
important question of French policy. The Senate,
in its Address, committed itself fully to the occupa-
tion of Rome. Going beyond the expressed opinions,
perhaps beyond the private wishes, of the Sovereign,
this august, but not very independent body, chose to
declare not only that France would maintain the
temporal power of the Pope, but that Italy had
given up all desire for what she had formerly
coveted. In the 7th paragraph of the Address it
was said that, " Italy, nearer to us, herself seconds
the allaying of fears after having caused them to
arise ;" that "at Turin people no longer speak of
Rome ;" and that " the indepenoence of Italy is not
a compact made by France with the revolution."
By these expressions the Senate pledged itself to
support the Emperor in his more illiberal policy,
and affected to believe that the desireot the Italians
for Rome, and of the Romans for union with Italy,
was a revolutionary dream that had vanished before
the firm will of the French Ruler. A debate of much
interest took place, and gave M. Thouvenel an
opportunity of declaring himself a friend of the
Italian cause, and condemning the policy which, by
bending to and humouring the Roman priesthood,
makes matters every day more difficult to settle.
But in all that large assemblage only one man
thought of voting against the Address which con-
tained the offensive paragraph. That one was
Prince Napoleon, and at the close of the debate the
numbers were announced to be—for the Address,
121 ; against it, 1. Scarcely less remarkable than
the vote of Prince Napoleon was the speech of M.
Thouvenel. In a review of his own policy, which
shows that he can command attention by the tongue
as well as by the pen, the late Minister of Foreign
Affairs justified himself, and in language bolder
than we have ever heard from an ex-Minister,
denounced the French occupation of Rome. It
will give courage to the friends of the Italian
came to find that although a part of French
society may affect indifference, though illustrious
persons may allow theological fanzies to blind them
to the claims of human and rational right, yet the
Councils of the Emperor do not want for men
pledged to a more just policy. M. Thouvenel has
been Minister, and he may be again ; indeed, it is
almost certain that he would be recalled if any
grave political questions were to arise in Europe.
Whenever that time shall come we know that there
will be a man at the French Foreign-office who
thinks as Englishmen think on the affairs of
Southern Europe, and who is convinced that France
loses more in reputation and influence than she
gains in actual military power by persisting in the
repression of the Roman people. Nothing can be
more bold and severe than M. Thouvenel's rebuke to
the busy courtiers who accused him of falsifying the
Emperor's policy. "Do you wish," he says, "to
know who falsifies the Emperor's policy. Those who
pretend to be the depositaries of secrets which have
not been confided to them; those who forget that
the Emperor has declared that every country has
the right of freely regulating the conditions of its
existence; those who do not understand that Victor
Emmanuel alone can represent the principle of
order in Italy." Then, with something like scorn,
the dismissed Minister alludes to the " reforms" so
often promised for the Roman States. A journal has
published a programme of these petty changes.
" I seriously ask," says M. Thouvenel, " does it
contain any appearance of the concessions in-
dispensable to the reconciliation of the power
of the Pope with his subjects ?" In his opinion
the question is no nearer its solution than before.
" The situation has undergone no change; the
obstacle is still at Rome." Then he speaks of
the mortal disorder which the present state of Italy
and of the Papal territory causes. " There is a
black spot on the horizon; that black spot is the
Roman question, and it is time to meet it boldly."
There is only one principle which can be legiti-
mately and safely appliNl—the principle by which
the French Empire and the Senate themselves exist
—the principle of respecting the popular will. It
may not be right of the Italians to claim Rome as
their capital; but it is certainly the right of the
Romans that they should be governed in conformity
with their own wishes. " Well, it is the unanimous
wish of the Romans that the temporal authority of
the Pope should be transformed, and I regret that
the Committee has not thought proper to say so in
the Address." Then, courageously adverting to the
military occupation itself, M. Thouvenel declared
that it could never be recognised. France had had
to endure such an occupation herself. Austria might
practise it, but it could never be admitted into the
law of nations. Such were theremarkable utterances
of the statesman who a few months ago was at the
head of the Foreign Affairs of France. A Prince
stands out alone against the Sovereign and the
Senate, a Minister uses the language of a popular
tribune, and the Emperor, whose policy is thus
attacked by his own relative and his own Councillor,
makes no response. Conjectures in plenty will be
formed, but there is only one thing certain, that
sooner or later the Emperor will have to adopt the
policy advocated by his more liberal advisers. We,
who look on the affairs of Rome with the calm-
ness of a nation that has determined on
taking no part in the matter, see this
more clearly than the Ruler and the politicians
who live among Royalist and priestly and
military intrigues, and who, moreover, are full of
traditions about the influence of France which we
cannot appreciate, or even understand. The time
will surely come when the Emperor, ashamed of
oppressing a gifted people, and weary of priestly
obstinacy and ingratitude, will own the justice of
his cousin's protest and the force of his Minister's
arguments.

POST.—If there were a Government in the world
which we should have supposed to have its hands
perfectly full it is that of the United States of
America. It has been engaged for two years in a
war which, though it has burdened it with a colossal
debt, has been utterly barren of practical results.
It has been straining all its energies during two
long and bloody campaigns to push its armies a
hundred and thirty miles in a straight line from its
own capital, and has failed. It has brought itself
to the verge of ruin in amassing armies which have
nevertheless, proved impotent to effect the purpose
for which they were created. At the commence.
ment of a third year it has braved the contempt of
every civilised State by adopting a scheme which
offere a faint hope of realising the object it has in
view through the medium of a servile insurrection.
Baffled at every point, but still sanguine of ultimate
success, the Federal Government might fairly be
considered to have quite as much work as it could
conveniently disposo of in attempting afresh the sub-
jugation of the South. It so happens, however, that
those who ought to know best—that is to say, Mr.
Lincoln and his Legislature—think otherwise.
They, as one would expect, are well acquainted with
the resources of the American nation, and can form
a more accurate estimate than strangers of the
powers and the capabilities of the great Republio.
Those who fancy that the North is so fully engaged
in the work of crushing the rebellion in the South,
that it mast rest a passive spectator of everything
that takes place beyond the pale of the Union, are
very much mistaken. Those who suppose that, with
a national debt which already equals half of that
which Great Britain has accumulated in a century
and a half, the North is not in a position to take up
the cudgels in any other quarrel than that in which
it is at present engaged, are grievously in error. It
may be the duty of the Federal Government to
suppress a rebellion within its own dominions, but
it has a mission to perform in the cause of dis-
tressed nationalities. The fulfilment of both these
obligations is, of course, perfectly practicable by a
Government which, according to the new system
of finance, possesses, so long as a sheet of paper re
mains in the country, a limitless command of wealth.
Congress has accordingly, in an interval between
the passing of Mr. Chase's money bills, turned its
attention from domestic to foreign politics- Seeing