The Sun.
London, England, 1860-08-18 00:00:00

and measure are not the men who win battles

against odds, and emancipate kingdoms with par-
tisan warriors and guerilla bands. We have
again and again declared our belief that Garibaldi
is the Washington of these latter days, pure in his
object and unselfish in his aims. But when we say
of a man who is acting es Garibaldi ac+s that he is
not a vulgar brigand, we admit him to be an en-
thusiast. In the life of such a man nothing is im-
possible. He may break with France waile he
attacks Austria, and he may occupy himself at the
same time with revolutionising Naples, consolidat-
ing Sicily, and conquering the old Metropolis for
the new kingdom which he has thought it glory
enough to ci fate. To any other than the eye of
genius all this seems mauneN4, and the dreams of
genius, although some,:rnes successful, have gene-
rally to be read by contraries. What Italy has
already done, and so rapidly done, has been done
by doing one thing at a time. She, with the aid of
her potent ally has driven back the invading Aus-
trians, has pursued them into and out of their own
territories. She has, with this good assistance,
annexed Lombardy. Again, she has, without
any assistance, and in spite of an agreement
between her ally and her enemy to the con-
trary, annexed Tuscany and annexed the Le-
gations. She has Naples now within her
grasp. She has only to put forth her hand and
seize it. All that Southern kingdom must fall
without an effort if attacked singly. Every day
we are told that Garibaldi is gone over to take the
offered prey. The Bourbon baubles are ready
packed, the Palace at Vienna is ready designated,
the ships are at the mole ;—the mind of Europe is
made up to the annexation of Naples as a fait
accompli. When that is done nothing remains
but a slice of Italy interposed between the two
parts of the great Italian kingdom. That slice, it
is true, contains the great old historic Metropolis,
which may again be the mother city of Italy, if
Italy is ever to be again a nation. Empire and
Religion and Art are all buried there, ready, as
Italians believe, to arise at the first blast of free-
dom. Of course, Italy without Rome would be
absurd. But Rome has a French garrison—it is
held by a potentate who declares loudly that he
likes not the cause in which he holds it, and that
he is ready to give it up upon small excuse. Surely
it would be better to wait till we can satisfy him as
to the excuse ? Venice, again, is very Italian.
Italy without Venice would be like one of her own
buried statues dug up mutilated. But Venice has
500,000 Aus' rlans behind her walls as surely as Rome
has 600.000 Frenchmen, who must all be conquered
before France can in honour surrender the post she
holds to force. Common sense would counsel that
even the most adventurous bravery should be con-
tent to leave that very tottering Popedom to fallin
the midst of its unwilling supporters, and to make
the Italian nation so strong that the course of events
must make it complete.
But what means this covert threat which France
at this moment puts forth through M. Grand-
guillot ? Are we to understand that upon the
occurrence of some undefined and hitherto un-
forbidden circumstance, such as the landing of
an army of roving liberators in Naples, the
Austrian flood will again be let loose, that the
Quadrilateral will open its many gates, and
pour forth its armies ; that the rivers of the plain
will be again crossed, Lombardy swallowed up,
Piedmont driven to bay and destroyed at another
Novara ? Are we to consider it certain that in such
a case the Duchies, the Romagna, and Tuscany will
be again reduced, and all Italy restored to a level,
beaten plain with the flats of Austrian sabres ? is
it possible that there can be such a contingency in
French eyes as that "Austria will again reign from
Messina to Turin ? " It is very difficult to recon-
cile such a possibility with those State papers which
have declared so positively that all Austrian inter-
ference with Italian affairs is become for ever im-
possible. It would be a strange end to the cam-
paign of 1859, and a singular consequence of Sol-
ferino, if Italy were indeed to become again
Austrian from Messina to Turin. But it is impos-
sible to look far into futurity when Emperors have
the Fates in their pay, and we should recommend
Italy not to be too rash in risking all she has, and
not to lean too trustfully either on the friendship
of Napoleon 111. or on the forbearance of Francis
Joseph.-7imes.