The Sun.
London, England, 1862-10-18 00:00:00

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industry, public prosperity, the cause of education,
of moralty, of humanity, exhibit signs
of rapid
progress. Let
Italy, in short, constitute itself into
a nation of men ; only then will hec reasonable
wishes be gratified, when she has attains great-
ness and strength enough to take no denial. There
is little doubt among honest patriots in Italy as
to the soundness and opportunity of this policy ;
there is only some misgiving as to the men fit to
carry it into execution. It would be necessary to
appear before Parliament; to have the courage to
declare that all negotiations with France have
foundered ; that the Roman question must be left
iu abeyance; that war with Austria is a remote
contingency; that the Kingdom of Italy must
for an indefinite period remain within its present
limits; that all the energies of the country should
be turned to the arrangement of internal, not of
external, affairs. Little gain would it to be to the
Italians to have Rome and Venice if they failed to
rid Naples of its camorra and brigandage, Palermo
of its stabbing societies, Milan, Bologna, and Turin
itself of their prowling robbers and lurking assassins.
Public security has made no progress anywhere in
Italy ; it has gone back by sdfdrcl degrees in various
quarters. This should be 'Matter for surprise to no
one, for it is in the nature of all revolutions to throw
many bad characters loose upon society, and there
have been Bourbon bands, brigand bands, and galley
slave gangs in sufficient number dispersed about
Italy to give work for years to the most active po-
lice ; but if the sad phenomenon may be explained,
it is no less to be deplored ; insecurity is no less a
crying evil, and ft remedy need no less be sought
with greater eagerness than the Italians evir i
their unavailing agitation for Rome. As tht
of the country, so every other branch of admin.stra-
tionjs in the most imperfect and unsatisfactory
state, and it is but too natural that so it should be.
That there should be evil, and very serious evil, no
one need be surprised ; but the world will soon he
not only astonished, but also disgusted, if the
Italians, instead of manfully grappling with it, con-
tinue to lie down, helpless and peevish, crying, like
children, for Rome and Venice, as if the acquisition
of Rome and Venice, by slackening their exertions
in proportion to the fulfilling of their objects, were
not more likely to add to their evils than put an end
:o them.

It is said, and not without some show of reason,
that the protracted solution of the Roman question,
as the attainment of that object, is not to be
hastened by any display of energy or by any bold
resolution, has a tendency to paralyse the Italians'
activity and perpetuate their helplessness and de-
spondency. The fault, however, in my opinion,
lies not with the people, but with their rulers. None
of the Italian Ministers, since Cavour mystified
them with their vote about "Rome for a capital,"
and the form of a "Free Church in a Free State"
(political ideas which could receive their de-
velopment by himself alone)—none of the Italian
statesmen, I said, has dared to speak out to the
Italians, to lay the real state of affairs before them,
to appeal to their senses, to call forth their real
strength. They have trained them to an expectant,
transitional, pusillanimous policy ; they have taught
them to look to Paris for salvation, to lean on its
oracles, to watch its nods and becks, to accept its
statesmen and statesmanship. Were the Emperor
even full of the best intentions towards the Italians,
he cannot help them so long as they lean so heavily
and indolently on his support. Italy must have a
career, a tendency, a life of its own. So far as
Rome is concerned, she may have, perhaps, to com-
pound with France. To obtain Venice she may
have to reckon with all Europe; but to unite, orga-
nise, and tranquillise her own territory, to make it
thoroughly and permanently her own, is a task
which lies with herself alone, in which she ought
not only never to require or solicit, but strongly and
indignantly to reject, all aid, and to resent all in-
terference. The mere habit of managing her own
internal affairs will give her nerve, weight, and
determination to steer her foreign policy. When
Italy has achieved a complete victory over herself
Rome and Venice will fall to her of their own
accord, as something that it may no longer be pos-
sible—that it may no longer be worth while—for
her foes to withhold from her.