The Sun.
London, England, 1847-12-27 00:00:00

Olte-nim

LONDON, MONDAY. DECEMBER 27, 1847.

Thirty-three years ago the event which occurred
on the 17th instant, at Parma, would have elicited
signs of lamentation and woe from all the Courts of
the European continent. Then the intelligence of
the demise of the Empress MARIA Louisa, the con-
sort of the most puissant monarch, the most daring
soldier, and the most extraordinary conqueror on the
globe, would have been received in the different
sovereignties of the eastern hemisphere (with the
exception of England) with every token of sorrow
and every expression of sympathy. The world
would have seen in the event the death of a
young princess, in the bloom of womanhood,
whose brow had but recently been girt with
the diadem of the wife of a greater than
CHARLEMAGNE, whose throne was guarded by war-
riors as memorable as the fabled palladins of
Aaxuua, whose sceptre was a sword more terrible
than Joyeuse, and whose vast and almost miraculous
empire extended among the shepherds on the Julian
Alps and the fishermen on the Baltic. Now, however,
the daughter of FRANCIS disappears -without arous-
ing any sentiment more worthy than one of the most
supreme indifference. The glory which surrounded
her for a fitful interval at the commencement of this
century has long since vanished; she has successively
dwindled from an Empress into an Archduchess,
from the spouse of the Emperor NAPOLEON into the
partner of a one-eyed Chamberlain, from the gran-
deur of an unparalleled pomp to the obscure gratifica-
tion of an ignoble passion ami lst the provincialkms
of a petty principality. With an opportunity—than
which woman never had a more golden one—of
rendering herself illustrious to all time and in all
history, by sharing the misfortunes of the wonderful
man to whose destinies she had been bound by the
consecrating hand of religion, MARIA Louisa so acted
as to render herself the most contemptible actor in
that drama of perfidy, meanness, and ingratitude.
If any emotion could by possibility be excited
by the information just received from northern Italy
respecting the departure of the Archduchess or ex-
Empress Manse Louisa, the emotion would be rather
pleasurable than otherwise ; for by her removal one
of the greatest obstacles to the adjustment of the
Italian Customs' League is removed in like manner.
According to the stipulations contained in the Treaty
of Vienna, the triple principalities of Parma, Piacenza,
and Guastalla, devolve upon the representative of the
Spanish Bourbons, the Ex-Duke of Lucca, a Prince
whose constitutional weakness may conduce to the
political liberation of his people if his patriotism be
not sufficient to produce that guarantee of their
happiness. iness. Brief as is the period which has elapsed
this ruler abdicated from the sovereignty of the
Lucchese, it may have been enough to convince him
of the value of that authority which his previous
policy rendered lain, incapable of retaining, and to
compliance satisfy him that a servile with the wishes
of Prince METTERNICEt can only result in his own
degradation, or in the tumultuous assemblies and
open rebellion of the Italian
be his decision, the consequence Whatever may
,of this trans-
ference of the sway of Parma Piacenza, aiid o
Guas-
t the
talla, cannot prove otherwise than beneficial
cause of the nationality of the Roman peninsula.
Another of the old impediments has disappeared, the
fate of those territories which are immediately con-
tiguous to Venetian Lombardy is narrowed, the
aspirations of Pius and the dreams of GIOBERTI are
approaching nearer and nearer to their realisation.
Even supposing that the successor of MARIA
Louisa should still continue to evince his
subserviency to the dictation of Austria, and
that Parma, Piacenza, and Guastalla should, like
Modena, be dedicated in a more especial
manner than heretofore to the interests of the Vien-
nese Cabinet, it were frivolous to anticipate any
other consequence to such an irrational proceeding than
such as are calculated to benefit the promoters of the
popular movement. With Tuscany in one direction,
and Piedmont in the other, and Sardinia in the