The Sun.
London, England, 1847-09-15 00:00:00

tcru'ing

I ONDON, WEDNESDAY. SEPTEMBER 15, 1847

That some direct communication between the
.Courts of Rome and England has been long requisite
is becoming more obvious every successive day to
the two Governments. Our forefathers, however, bl,
an aggregation of bigotry and intolerance, erected
barriers between St. James's and the Vatican,
which still prevent any overt or directly
official intercourse between the counsellors of the
Sovereign PONTIFF and those of her Britannic ALL-
Jan-v. Obsolete as the prejudices of the two princi-
palities have become, the statutes which originally
pronounced their estrangement are yet maintained,
with the exception of the prainunire, under the sth
ELIZABETH, ch. I. s. 2., a statute virtually repealed
by the 9th and 10th VICTORIA, ch. 59. Under these
circumstances—debarred from any immediate mani-
festation of friendship, and driven to a sort
of diplomatic stratagem by the ignorant pro-
visions of our ancestor, the present Adminis-
tration has contrived to evade the legal obstruc-
tions by a very ingenious preliminary—to turn the
mountains, as BONAPARTE did the Alps in 1796,
instead of surmounting them, as he afterwards did
in 1801. Our readers are already acquainted with
the nature of the ingenious arrangement by which
the Government is now preparing the way for the
establishment of a cordial understanding between the
Cabinets of Pope Pius IX. and Queen VICTORIA.
Considering that Lord MINT° the party selected
to proceed to Rome, rid Turin, with the intention of
corresponding with the Liberal administratioa ap-

pointed under the propitious Pontificate of FERRETTI,
there is every probability, we might even say there is
every certainty, that whatever obstructions still remain
to the settlement of a treaty ofamity between the powers
of Rome and Great Britain, will be removed before
the re-assembling of the new Parliament, and con-
sequently that the Ministers will then be enabled to
bring the matter under the consideration of the
House of Commons.
The distinguished position of the Earl of MINTo,
his near relationship to the Prime Minister, his
intimate connexion with the present- Cabinet, and
the acknowledged abilities as a diplomatist which his
Lordship has perfected by many years of experience
in the discharge of various responsible offices and
upon occasions of particular delicacy, justify us in
anticipating for his extraordinary mission to the
Pontifical dominions a speedy and remarkable
success. From his own individual character and
the influence derived from his Ministerial
connexions, Lord Mmo is invested with an
authority which will for the time being com-
pensate for his non-appearance in any official or ac-
credited capacity. The Government of his Holiness
will doubtless recognise in the arrival at Rome
of a nobleman so peculiarly well qualified to act as a
precursor to an actual Ambassador, the solicitude
evinced by the Russell Administration to establish,
as rapidly and cordially as possible, an open commu-
nication between States which are already so ear-
nestly allied in the syrnpathi• s inspired by the prin-
ciples of liberality. All those who abhor the main-
tenance of obsolete statutes, and who are filled with
a real detestation of civil and religious intolerance,
will applaud, in the departure of Lord Miziro for the
Papal Court, the bold and honourable spirit of our
Government, and will exult that by a very simple
but ingenious proceeding, the blundering interdicts
of our forefathers have been so effectually and dis
tinctly evaded.
That a very large proportion of the population of
these islands are animated by sentiments of admira-
tion fur the Italians, and especially for the great
Reformer who is crowned with the tiara, is unde-
niable. Englishmen are watching the gradual eman-
cipation of Italy with a profound sympathy for the
ruler in whose counsels that movement originated.
What a preposterous anomaly, therefore, would it not
be to perpetuate those clumsy enactments of our
predecessors, whereby all intercourse is impracticable
between ourselves and the Papal States ! What an
extravagance would it not be to continue those
laws in operation which would compel our sym-
pathy for Roman patriotism to manifest itself
surreptitiously, out of a reverence for the legislative
wisdom (Heaven save the mark .) of our punctilious
forefathers! It were superfluous, however, toinsist
upon the absurdity, not to say the impracticability, of
keeping up a fictitious estrangement between the free
Government of England and the Liberative Govern-
ment of Rome.
Already has his Majesty the King of PRUSSIA...-.
FREDERICK Wterisest IV.—the patriotic King--
one of the most Protestant of Sovereigns
pressed his approval of the course adventured
upon by the POPE, when alluding to the pro-
ceedings of the Holy Father, in a conversation
with his Imperial Highness the Prince of
CANmo. Already has the United States ar-
ranged the preliminaries for establishing an Envoy in
the Eternal City. Shall England alone remain in-
different to the new career opened for the Italians—
and this simply because past generations erected the
obstacles of illiberality ? The Government of Lord
JOHN RUSSELL has recognised the unnaturalness of
our position ; and Lord MINTO has departed for
R':'rne for the purpose of preparing the way for the
„taielishment of a diplomatic intercourse. A fresh
impems will be imparted to the patriotic movement
of the Valiana when an English Ambassador isresi-
dent in ROzne, and an Apostolic Nuncio in London.
For Italy, through all the vicissitudes of her
present struggle, looks especially to Eng-
land for encouraement—to England the first '
stronghold of civil and religious liberty—the island
wbiph the flignea of freedom have burnt brightly