The Sun.
London, England, 1860-07-13 00:00:00

thrown by the presence of a foreign force, and 40,000 Aus-
trian troops occupied Naples and Sicily. In 1848, again,
the King of Naples gave a constitution to his subjects, which
he afterwards destroyed by his own hands. From 1848 to

1859 the people of Naples and Sicily suffered under—not

the absolute Government of the monarch and the despotic
conduct of his Ministers, but under an arbitrary and vexa-
tious police, which made every man's house a
prison, which tracked men as the : walked the

streets, and followed them into the privacy of domestic life;
and which made the whole kingdom such a scene of misery
and tyranny as has hardly any example. (Cheers.) The
present King succeeded to the throne. The late Government
of this country thereupon sent Mr. Elliott to Naples, and
told him verbally—for I believe he had no written instruc-

tions—to advise a liberal Prime Minister and a constitution

to the King of Naples. When we succeeded to the Govern-
ment we advised the King to make concessions of popular

institutions, and, above all, to establish a just administration

of the law. (Hear, hear.). The Ministers of the Xing of
Naples said " We do not mean to grant a constitution; we
disapprove of popular constitutions, but we mean to ad-
minister the law." Upon this we inquired, if they meant to

administer the law, why they kept so many persons in prison
against the law ? They rejoined that the law was intended for
the people, and not for the Government ; that the Govern-
ment might arrest anybody it pleased, and that it was ne-
cessary for the purposes of the State that the Government
should not be compelled to bring them before the tribunals.
Thus we went on, always advising concessions and a liberal
constitution, or at the least an administration of the law,
and if our advice has not been taken, and the concessions
lately made have not succeeded, it only proves that those
concessions were made too late. (Hear, hear.) We at
least cannot reproach ourselves that we have concealed from
the King of Naples the policy that would have saved his
throne aid given security to his dynasty in future. (Cheers.)

Even a few months ago the King of Naples might have se
cured both Naples and Sicily. An expedition went out—
and here I must explain the particular fact to which the
hon. baronet alludes. He adverted to a speech made by me
in this house in answer to the member for Dundalk—rela-
tive to Garibaldi; but the hon. baronet did not state, and
probably did not know, the date when that took place. It
took place in the summer of last year, when the King had
just ascertained the existence of much discontent in Sicily,
and when it was desirable he should take every oppor •
tunity of meeting this discontent by just concessions and
the establishment of a free constitution in that island. The
Government of Naples wished us to represent to Sardinia
that it ought not to invade a friendly State. It so happened
that the King of Sardinia had no such design or in-
tention, and we received a communication to that effect.
What happened lately took place without our knowledge.
I know not whether it was without the knowledge of the
Sardinian Government, but so far from their having in-
spired the expedition, I believed they looked upon it as a
wild and mad enterprise, and thought they would soon re-
ceive intelligence of its utter failure. I have stated on
former occasions, when Garibaldi was reproached with
being a filibuster, that the name could not justly be applied
to a man who had rescued a country from slavery, and
placed it in a position ef liberty and happiness. Garibaldi
is at least a man of very extraordinary character. (Hear.)
He landed with between 1,000 and 2,000 men, and in the
course, I believe, of a fortnight 18,000 or 20,000 of the forces
of the King of Naples agreed to evacuate Palermo, and the
people of Sicily followed him as their deliverer. (Hear.)
Well, then, again comes a new position of affairs. It may
be that the people of Sicily will declare in favour of annex-
ation. It may be, and I think it likely, that an attempt to
annex Sicily and then to annex Naples, and, I suppose, the
Roman States, would not end in the consolidation of a firm
government. For my own part, I doubt very much
whether the people of the north of Italy can, under the
seine sceptre with the people of southern Italy, form a firm
and permanent government, which would act in harmony
for the welfare of the Peninsula. These are my doubts and
my opinions. If the King of Naples is able by the con-
cessions which he has made to conciliate the Neapolitans,
and induce them to live under his rule with free institutions,
her Majesty's Government cannot find fault with such a
result. Again, if the people of Sicily can obtain the con-
stitution of 1812, and are satisfied with the constitution, it
is not for us to find fault with the arrangement. But, on
the other hand, we will never lose sight of the principle
which we have before enunciated, and which we think is a
sacred principle—one to which there are indeed some, but
very rare, exceptions—namely, that with regard to the in-
ternal government of a country the people of that country
are the best judges, and that no one should interfere by force
to coerce and to overwhelm their decision. (Cheers.) It is
not only a nice question but it is one of the most extreme
difficulty, for foreigners to declare, " Such a man is worthy
' your confidence ; such a Prince may be safely followed ;
such a clam toLa good political adviser, such another will
give you a constitution uea.e which you may live happy."
A foreigner should speak on such mattel s.,at mea-
sure and with great reserve, and can only give an opinion ac-
cording to the imperfect lights which he may possess. It is
therefore, for the people of Sicily and of Naples, and I must
add also—whoever may be offended by that expression—it is
for the people of the Roman States themselvesto say whatis
the form of government under which they choose to live.
(Cheers.) With regard to the policy of the British Govern-
ment, we may from day to day have to treat of matters in
which our relations with other Powers may induce us to re-
commend a particular measure at one time or a certain course
at another, but I can assure the house, and it is the only word
and the last word I have to say, that, as far as concerns the
people of Italy, we have no other policy than to leave them
to decide for themselves their own fate. (Hear, hear.) If
their decision should be such as tends to the future happi-
ness and independence ef Italy, I feel confident we shall re-
joice at it, and not on account of Italy alone.
" Who values liberty confines
His love for her within no narrow bounds ;"

and I believe that for the liberty and happiness of Europe,
as well as for " the balance of power" in Europe—a phrase
which is often abused, but which yet has a clear, and sig-
nificant meaning—there can be no better guarantee and no
greater security than the independence of Italy. (Loud
cheers.)
Mr. KINGLAKE said the hon. baronet need not have
offered any apology for bringing this important subject be-
fore the house. Sardinia was the neighbour of France, and
the Emperor claimed territory to be annexed to France be-
cause of the extension of the kingdom of Sardinia. It seemed
that the Government of France put forward another Power
in order that it might have a pretence for having an increase
of territory to France. The noble lord (Lord J. Russell)
had made a speech that night which had given him (Mr.
Kinglake) unfeigned gratification. Was Sardinia labour-
ing to put together the scattered limbs of Italy, or was she
the vassal, the mere vassal, of France ? He rather thought
the latter was the case, and recent facts tended to confirm
him in that opinion. The King of Sardinia had parted
with his ancient sovereignty, and with a great part of
his seaboard, in favour of France. He had no
longer any ally but France, who was in fact his master.
He was in much the same position as King Joseph
was in the early part of this century, and whose
kingdom soon departed from him. In the month of March
last Count Cavour stated that he looked to Venetia, and to
keeping Austria in check on the Miucio. The same scheme
of policy that had been pursued by Sardinia had been
pressed upon the Prince Regent of Prussia. He was, he
believed, pressed to appropriate some of the smaller States
of Germany in return for giving to France the Rhenish
provinces. But the French Emperor encountered in his
late interview an honest man, and time had shown that his
former statements were true. He asserted that at the meet-
ing at Villafranca the Emperor of the French proposed to
the Austrian Emperor to give back Lombardy if Austria
would acquiesce in the operations he would attempt on the
Rhine. The answer was very simple. It was, no ;lam a
German Prince. They always found the policy of the French
Emperors was to invite peace between contending parties
at the expense of neutrals and friends. Why was it that
Europe was filled from one end to the other with rumours
of war ? Along the whole eastern frontiers of France agi-
tators were at work to foster discontent with existing rule,
and prepare the way for a coming change. He had a letter
from a gentleman in one of those States, giving an account
of an interview with a French emissary, who said that there
was not a country in Europe in which French had not a
question at issue upon which it could ground immediate
action if it were desirable to do so. (Hear.) There was the
name of an hon. member used, who was net then in his
place—(a laugh, and cries of " Name")—whose policy was
the delight and gratification of his Imperial friend. The
cause of that stateof thingswas the internalstate of France,
and it was the policy of its ruler to divert attention from
them by inducing the people to look abroad. There was
now no longer a system of foreign policy in France, but a
series of small conspiracies, many of which were projected
by the French police. It was impossible to tell with whom
the next war would be. The French Emperor appeared like
a dumb animal, who pulled the trigger at random. The
words of the noble lord had given great satisfaction when
he said that, while it was desirable to be friendly with
France, it was necessary not to live apart from other na-
tions. (Hear.)
Mr. WHITESIDE—I wish to call the attention of the
house to the practical part of this subject. The hon.
baronet opposite put a question to the noble lord, to which
I was not so fortunate as to hear the answer. Ho asked for
information as to the probable demands of France in the
event of the annexation of Sicily to the kingdom of Sar-
dinia. No doubt, as the noble lord truly observed, deli-
cacy and reserve ought to be observed in respect to a
future foreign policy, when you are ignorant of what that
policy may be, and have no knowledge of the facts. But
the noble lord gave no answer to the direct question put to
him. He, however, made a statement full of interest, and
I only regret that the Chancellor of the Exchequer was not
here at the time to ho instructed by it. (A laugh.) It was
declared some months since in th is house—although it was not
th en admitted by the Treasury bench—thatlong ago %bargain
was struck between the Minister of Sardinia and the French
Emperor, that in the event of the kingdom of Sardinia being
considerably enlarged compensation should be made to the
injured and terrified ruler of France. (A laugh.) The noble
lord, however, is the first Minister of the Crown who has ac-
iienowledged the truth of this statement, and he has truly
idde4 that the policy of the French Government was cal-
ciliated to disturb Germany and fill Europe with distrust,
acinod;rterzuxthat tehatopin ion was conveyed by our Minister to the
uo t f the Emperor. That I held to boa eery int-