The Sun.
London, England, 1870-10-05 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, 'WEDNESDAY, OCPOBER 5, 1870.

CAVOUR, at the end of March, 1861. 1,083 than
three months later he was buried,' amid the lamen-
tations of twenty-four millions of people. The
words were prophetic, yet not wholly so. The first
Minister of Italy had boundless faith in the power of
'moral influence. At that time it seemed hopeless to
expect that the protecting Catholic Powers would con-
sent to the solution of the great problem. But he
trusted that in process of years they would learn to
see that the temporal power was no longer a
guarantee of Papal independence. In the meanwhile
he would endeavour to persuade the POPE that " the
liberty which you have never obtained from those
Powers who- boast of being your protectors, we,
your devoted sons, offer you in all its plenitude. We
are ready to proclaim throughout Italy the great
principle of a free Church in a free State." CAVOUR
never dreamt even in. his most sanguine mood that
an Italian army would force its way into Rome with-
out the veto of a single Power in the world.
He never imagined that the time would arrive,
much less that it would arrive within a
single decade, when all Europe would look
on without interference, and almost without interest,
as the Italian tricolour was borne along the Corso
amid the shouts of the spectators. He had looked
forward to a siege of Rome indeed, but of the moral
kind, a siege in which railways, telegraphs, a free
press, liberal institutions, would so surround
the city that its walls would be undermined,
and fall as flat as the walls of Jericho
fell before the blast of JOSHUA'S rain's horns. The
end has been not wholly thus. Doubtless the
proximity of a constitutional country hemming the
Papal provinces in on every side but one, has had its
share in producing the effect just attained.

But if a certain amount of force was needed to
overcome force, if Italian soldiers were requ'red to
deal with polyglot Zouaves, the Roman people have
been told that it rests with them to say if they
approve of the revolution which transfers them from
the rule of the POPE to, that of the KING. It is not
for the first time that VICTOR EMMANUEL has had
to make this appeal. Ten years ago witnessed
many such. It was in March 1860, that the
Duchies of Parma, Modena, and Papal Romagna,
voted annexation to the then Kingdom of Sardinia
by overwhelming majorities. It was ten years ago
this very month that GARIBALDI, having defeated
the troops of the KING of NAPLES, at Volturno,
met VICTOR EMMANUEL and hailed him " KING OF
ITALY," and it was in that same month that the
ancient kingdom of the Two Sicilies voted their
incorporation with the new kingdom. Six years
later Venetia made the same decision ; and now once
more early Autumn sees a people pronouncing by
majorities the wish to be joined to the
rest of Italy, to be part of that great country which
only a little while ago veteran diplomatists were
deriding as " a geographical expression." It may be
that even yet Italy is not " made," that Nice and
Savoy may choose to separate themselves from fallen
France, and be relieved from the heavy burden of
taxation which that unhappy country will long have
to bear. But whether this be so or not, Italy
will be henceforth a homogeneous country. None
more so throughout all Europe.
It is to be hoped that the first result of the uni-
fication of Italy will be the restoration of Italian
finances. Hitherto it has been necessary to maintain
a large standing army, and to incur a yearly deficit.
So long as the French were in Rome the Republi-
cans never ceased to conspire against the Govern-
ment of Italy, and so long as they conspired the
Government had to maintain a force suffi-
ciently strong to repress them, and to mask
the French force which lay interposed like
a wedge between Northern and Southern Italy.
The wedge has been extracted. Italy has come
together, and has perfectly united ; the Republicans
have no longer any excuse for conspiring; the huge
army is no longer needed to keep them down; the
terrible drain which that army made upon the
resouries of Italy need no longer continue.

• THIRTY-ONE years ago CHARLES Louis NAPOLEON
BONAPARTE, then a refugee in London, published
his "Rees Napoleoniennes." The task to which he
set himself in 1839 in order to amuse his exile, he
has resumed in 1870, in order to divert his
captivity. The London newspaper La Situation,
which has been started with the obje3t of
restoring the fallen EMPIRE, has scarcely done the
dethroned Sovereign good service by becoming the
vehicle of these new "ideas." "At our age," said
Louis XIV. to his once victorious general, after a
crushing defeat, "we are no longer successful," and
NAPOLEON 111. has reached that age. How blunted
his sword had become we all saw in Mexico and we
have seen again at Sedan. It remained for him to
spew how blunted his pen has also grown. • A more
extraordinary farrago it would be difficult
to find, though we should ransack history.
It was but ten months ago that the EMPEROR
delivered a speech as incisive as even Frenchmen
eczustomed to epigrammatic eloquence had ever
heard. "France desires liberty, but liberty united
with order; for order I will answer : aid me, gentle-
men, to save liberty." The words were clear and
precise enough. But what are we to make of the
involved sentences, the frequent interrogatories to
which no reply is given, of these hints and vague sur-
mises? It is almost impossible to attach any definite
meaning to this nebulous document. But we infer
that NAPOLEON, after having, as his most trusted
adviser, M. ROUHER, declared, prepared for war
against Prussia for four years, has discovered
that he has made a mistake, and that it
ould be very much better for France and Germany
to live on good terms together than to be
always quarrelling. But these "ideas" seem to
ordinary minds incontrovertible facts. The pity is
that they did not occur to NAPOLEON before.
Had they done so he would not be now writing
them in almost unintelligible language from a
prison. There is one other "idea" vaguely
shadowed forth, namely, that France is likely to fall
a prey to domestic dissension, and that the only
means of preventing that unhappy contingency is for
her to restore the captive of Wilhelmshohe to the
Tuileries, where he wil! make advantageous terms
with his gaoler. That is an " idea " which is hardly
likely to be realised.

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

pieces of artillery were put in position, and disabled
within ten minutes by the enemy's fire. All the
Prussian field guns are breech-loaders, while those of
the French are muzzle-loaders, and this difference
has led many observers to contend that all our artil-
lery should henceforth be constructed on the victor's
model. This is the point which is now under
consideration at Aldershutt, and which Mr. Cardwell
is to pronounce upon. The Service breech-loading
gun is being tried against a new muzzle-loading
Indian gun, as it is desired to settle the question
before.constructing a fresh supply. The new Indian
gun is made of bronze, which metal has, contrary to
expectation, proved very suitable for rifled guns.
One of the Indian guns has been fired 2,000 times,
but it is necessary for such hard service to make
some parts of zinc, instead of gun metal, and conse-
que4tly it is more liable to damage. Bronze is cheap
and easily worked, and can be remelted and cast over
again, but it is not so strong as steel or iron, and
therefore a greater weight of gu i is required in pro-
portion. On all these points Mr. Cardwell has to
decide and It is no wonder that he wished to see the
points at issue fairly tested.