The Sun.
London, England, 1862-07-31 00:00:00

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THE SUN
LONDON, THuRsDAN, JULY 31, 1862.

GARIBALDI'S resolute proceedingejestwno: in
Southern Italy, far wore than his bold
augur a startling change at
Palermo and Marsala,
of
some kind as really imminent. Ris
could hardly be characterised by a greater 11„datigt,
than it has been remarkable for of late—but amore
particularly on two very notable occasions. First
of all, when addressing a vast Sicilian multitude
at Palermo, in the presence of the Prefect
or local Governor. And, secondly, when ad-
dressing another Sicilian multitude before the
Syndic of Marsala—a spot hitherto distinguished
by its association with a cheap light wine,
but henceforth historically famous as the scene
of one of the most famous of the warlike !
exploits achieved by the modern RIENZI. Lan
guage co audacious it has been in its Conde °ma..
tion of the Imperial ally of the " King of ITALY"
—to the sweep of whose sword, nevertheless
King of ITALY owes the liberat;:on of all Lomb' theardy
from the Austrian rule—th.dt literally, and without
one particle of exa'Kgeration, the Government at
Turin has had (w
Ineach of all recognise this) no alternative.
1
spoken ;
.a4O place 3 mentioned GARIBALDI has
412
to down
been by a sort of necessity has
,presiding authority—here of
the -Insular cathpitm
of the insular seaport
-disgraced and d,llere
graded
and dismissed because
of the rnere complicity of
listening! Down
falls the Prefect of ppo
-
Syndic of Marsala. Yet, all the Down falls the
that cheered G.BALDI to the eewtohiivell, the crowds
RI
spokeen he
there words that have thus proved I
1 to the
T/nrar cf th. 3 two tstherities 7,25,t COW pat.tiellia,

VAINLY FOR HER OPPORTUNITY. We say this as
Englishmen. We say this as sympathising but
imp rtial spectators. Would the Government of
England have resolved (if NAPOLEON lIL had re-
trained from doing so) upon drawing the sword
against Austria tor the liberation of the
Italians? Why the principle of the whole
of our foreign policy—the great principle animating
the eloquence of almost every State paper penned
by Earl RUSSELL, is avowedly and reiteratedly the
principle of non-intervention England could not
consistently have adventured upon t hat course, t here-
fore, which was nevertheless adventured upon—for
se:fish purposes, ifyou will, but still adventured upon
—by the French EMPEROR. Nice and Savoy were
shamefully lost, but Lombardy was won. And, better
still, for the darling hope of the diplomacy of
CAVOUR, of the heroism of GARIBALDI, of the kingly
ambition of VICTOR EMMANUEL—ItaIy had
(tht ough these first achievements) obtained at last
her opportunity !

What followed the conquest of Lombardy by the
French EMPEROR, and the presentation by
him of that liberated province to the future
"King of ITALY," we all know. The minor
states and principalities—of themselves, as it
were—fell to his lot by a sort of political
gravitation. Parma, Modena, Tuscany, the
Romagna, bit by bit, province by province,
duchy by duchy, they all drifted together
in the new combination. Each in turn became
thenceforth part and parcel of the new and homo-
geneous, and not as previously of the old and hetero •
geneous state. Afterwards came the grandest result
of all—the result achieved (amidst the wonder of
all Europe) by GARIBALDI at the head of his 1,000
Garibaldians ! The French EMPEROR —whatever
GARIBALDI may have said of him within the lee
few days at Palermo and at Marsala—the French
EMPEROR had by his Italian policy given not only
to the Italians, but to GARIBALDI himself, the.' op-
portunity" that (hut for that selfish Italian policy of
the French EMPEROR) would to this instant of
time, in all human probability, still have been
wanting. Unwillingly enough, very possady,
NAPOLEON 111. had given to GARIBALDI the
opportunity of making his marvellous descent
upon Sicily and Naples ; but still however
unwillingly—he had actually (deny it who can)
given GARIBALDI that grand and enviable
opportunity. Out of those few words, uttered
on that ever memorable jour de l'an already
spoken of, out of the few significant words then
addressed by the French EMPEROR to the Austrian
Ambassador in the old Bourbon Pak" of the
Tuileries— '

("
What mighty contexts flow from trivial things
came one after another the political liberation of
Lombardy, of Modena., of Parma, of Tuscany, of the
Kingdom of the Two Sicilies! From that incident
sprang no less 4s consequences, without any doubt,
the agonising disappointmentof Villafranca and the
infamous bartering of Savoy and Nice. And yet
at the same time it may be asserted quite as unde-
niably that but for that incident History would, in
all likelihood, never have had any record at all of
the Descent upon Marsala or of the Victory at
Calatafimi !

It is the recognition: of all this that explains
the
Bue4e,ouiirlse recent]
jr pursued, and still being pur-
Governna7P°:
Pa-
of Marsala, sition to n ~ARIBALDI, by the Italian
lernao
a.;:lit• It accounts for the Prefect of gbeen superseded, and for the Syndic
havingoll been d
:iterations of State policy, there
is graced. Besides, in
her ov
I addition to all
is a certain intirna,
e:11100'litY alliance, now, that can
not be altoget
An alliance between
Vile ancient and haughty' /1.
:lybe now, one
old proud dynasty ought
.41,0 Savoy—[,he
an4othhertvise
rt
!J—between tBhAean'aleacient
ndweoosuuigsldenattehoditnnk:sfbaoveoy
and the pa,.t.enuaughty
iiot
BiltbDiu
wonderful House of BONAPARTE, the
royal but imperial dynasty founded by N„oLto:
that later and greater CHARLEMAGNE. Wlth the
KING'S daughter, the Princess CLOTILDE, married
to the EMPEROR'S CotThiO, the Prince NAPOLEON, it
is hardly to be expected that the Italian Govern-
ment can break thus flagrantly with that Sovereign
of Prance—to the signal
given by the flash of whose
say )rd Italy really and absolutely stands indebted,
under Heaven, for the were chance of her present
state of emancipation. 1

Yet, as really and absolutely
as we recognise
all this on the one side, we can recognize she
w12.-).:i amount of truth there is upon the other
It s,alj e difficult to ender azy way

rised—are the loyal subjects to the last of the
SOVEREIGN, whose ministers have just now
appointed successors to Prefect and to Syndic. It
is all a contradiction. It is all an anomaly. And
yet a contradiction and an anomaly that can be per-
fectly well understood.
The Government of VICTOR EMMANUEL has
had in its present "situation," we repeat, abso-
lutely no alternative. Whatever else may be saic
of the French EMPEROR—whatever we may, any
of us, think nbout the duplicity of his policy, about
the meanness of his quid pro quo system of compen-
sation—when he followed up the glorious Proclama-
tion of Milan, by the discreditable Treaty of Villa-
franca, or when he balanced against the liberation
of Lombardy the annexation to France, imme-
diately afterwards, of Nice and Savoy—there is
no possibility of denying that he it was who, on
a famous jour de l'an, not quite a hundred years
ago, gave the signal for that last great
conflict south of the Carpathians! That stormy
succession of battles, led on by his Imperial
MAJESTY in person—victories (on the side of France
and Sardinia in armed alliance) that drove back
the Austrians from their south-eastern frontier line,
step by step to Magenta, and afterwards step by
step to Solferino: until they were compelled to draw
off their forces altogether from the plains of Lom-
bardy, and retreat from the probabilities, almost
the dead certainty, of destruction under the
shadow of the formidable fortifications of the
Quadrilateral. Whatever was the ultimate object
held selfishly in view by NAPOLEON lll.—all this
NAPOLEON 111. unquestionably did : and he did it,
moreover, to the admiration of Italy, of France, of
England, of all those who are large of heart enough
to sympathise with the liberation from foreign
thraldom of any one of the great oppressed nations.
lities. That the French Emperor should afterwards
condescend to the miserable trickery of filching
Nice and Savoy from the Italians, did not alter the
fact as to what he had previously accomplished.
It did not change by one iota the reality of the
freedom he had won for the Lombards. It marred
the reputation NAPOLEON 111. had just been
winning L,r himself on the haul( field as a
Liberator—it marred this magnificent reputation,
we say, when he took, in sordid payment for his
victories, Nice and the Nizzards, Savoy and the
Savoyards! But while it did this, it, at the same
time, still continued to afford, as it had already
afforded, to the Italians their long looked for op-
portunity. Judging the French EMPEROR'S policy,
In this matter, at its very worst—we may most
positively aver that, if NAPOLEON 111. had not cast
a covetous eye upon A ice and Savoy, when he first
resolved upon throwing down the gage of battle at
the feet of Austria for the Liberation of Lombardy,
ITALY MIGHT STILL TO THIS DAY HAVE LOOKED