The Sun.
London, England, 1860-09-17 00:00:00

SARDINIA AND BOMB.

The following is a copy of the Memorandum ad-
dressed by the Sardinian Government to its repre-
sentatives at foreign Courts, explaining its reasons
for entering the Roman States. It is as follows :
" The Peace of Villafranca, by assuring to the
Italians the right of disposing of their own fate,
empowered the populations of many provinces of
the North and Centre of the Italian Peninsula to
substitute the national Government of the King
Victor Emmanuel for Governments subject to
foreign influence.
" This great transformation has been accomplished
with admirable order, without disturbing any one
of the principles upon which social order is based.
" The events which have taken -place in the
/Emilia and in Tuscany have proved to Europe that
the Italians, far from being actuated by anarchical
passions, only asked to be governed by free and
national institutions.
" If this transformation could have been extended
to the whole of the Peninsula the Italian question
would have been settled at this very moment. Far
from being a cause of apprehension and danger to
Europe, Italy would be henceforth an element of
peace and conservation. Unhappily the Peace of
Villafranca could only include a portion of Italy.
It has left Venetia under the domination of Austria,
and it has produced no change in Central Italy, nor
in the provinces remaining under the temporal
domination of the Holy See.
" We have no intention of discussing here the
question of Venetia. It will suffice for us to call to
mind that as long as this question shall not be
solved Europe cannot enjoy a solid ,and sincere
peace. There will yet remain in Italy a powerful
cause of troubles and revolution which, despite the
efforts of the Governments, will incessantly threaten
an outburst of insurrection and war in the centre
of the Continent.
" But it is well to leave it to time to settle this
question.
" Whatever may be the sympathy which the
daily increasing unhappy fate of the Venetians
justly inspires, Europe is so anxiously occupied with
the incalculable consequences of a war, she has so
lively a desire, so irresistible a need of peace, that it
-would be unwise not to respect her will.
" But this is not applicable to the questions re-
lating to Central and Southern Italy.
" Attached to a traditional system of policy
which has not been less fatal to his family than to
his people, the young King of Naples, from his acces-
sion to the throne, placed himself in flagrant opposi-
tion to the national sentiments of the Italians, as
-well as to the principles which govern civilised
countries. Deaf to the counsels of France and of
England, refusing even to follow the advice of a
Government whose constant and sincere friendship
he could not doubt, nor its attachment to the prim
ciple of authority, he rejected for a whole year all
the efforts of the King of Sardinia to lead him to a
system of policy more conformable to the senti-
ments which dominate the Italian people.
" What justice and reason could not obtain, a re-
volution has accomplished—a prodigious revolution
which has filled Europe with astonishment by the
almost providential manner in which it has been
accomplished, and excited its admiration for the
illustrious warrior whose glorious exploits recall all
that poetry and history can relate.
" The transformation which has taken place in
the kingdom of Naples, though it has been effected
by means less pacific and regular than that of
Central Italy is not the less legitimate ; its conse-
quences are not the less favourable to the true in-
terests of Order and to the consolidation of the
balance of power in Europe.
" As soon as Sicily and Naples shall form an
integral part of the great Italian family the enemies
of Thrones will no longer have any powerful ar-
gument to bring forward against monarchical
principles. Revolutionary passions will no longer
find a theatre where most insane enterprises had
chances of success, or at least of exciting the sym
pathy of all generous-minded men.

" One might, then, be authorised to suppose
that Italy may at last enter a pacific phase of a
nature to dispel European anxieties if the two
great regions of the North and South of the
Peninsula were not separated by provinces which
are in a deplorable state.
" The Roman Government having declined to
take any part whatsoever in the great national
m rrvoln on t, o prmfrary, continued .to
oppose it with the most lamentable obstinacy, has
for a long time placed itself in open hostility with
the populations which have not succeeded in throw-
ing off its yoke. To keep them down, to prevent
them from manifesting the national sentiments
which animate them, he has made use of the spiri-
tual power which Providence has intrusted to him
for an object far otherwise great than that assigned
to the political Government.

" By presenting to the Catholic populations the
condition of Italy under false and sombre colours,
by making a passionate appeal to feeling, or rather
to fanaticism, which still holds so much sway in
certain unenlightened classes of society, he has suc-
ceeded in gathering money and men from every
corner of Europe, and in forming an army consist-
ing almost exclusively of strangers, not only to the
Roman States, but the whole of Italy.
"It has been reserved to the Roman States to
offer in our century the strange and sad spectacle
of a Government reduced to maintain its authority
over its subjects by the means of foreign mercenaries
blinded by fanaticism. or enticed by the bait of pro-
mises which could not be fulfilled, except by throw-
ing whole provinces into distress.

Such facts provoke, in the highest degree, the
indignation of the Italians who have achieved their
liberty and independence. Full of sympathy for
their brethren in Umbria and in the Marches, they
manifest on all sides the desire of helping to put an
end to a state of things which is an outrage to the
principles of justice and of humanity, and which
wounds deeply the national sentiment.

" Although- sharing this painful emotion, the
Government of the King thought it right hitherto
to prevent any disorganised attempt to deliver the
populations of Umbria and of the Marches from
the yoke which oppresses them. But it could not
dissimulate that the increasing irritation of the
populations could no longer be contained without
having recourse to force and to violent measures.
Moreover, the revolution having triumphed at
Naples, could it be stopped at the frontier of the
Roman States, where it is invoked by abuses not
less serious than those which have irresistibly
drawn the volunteers of Upper Italy into Sicily ?
"By the cries of the insurgents of the Marches
and of Umbria the whole of Italy was moved. No
power can prevent thousands of Italians from rush-
ing from the centre and from the north of the
Peninsula to the aid of their brothers threatened
with disasters similar to those of Perugia.
" If the Government of the King remained passive
amid this universal emotion, it would place itself
in direct opposition with the nation. The generous
outburst which the events of Naples and of Sicily
have produced in the messes would degenerate at
once into anarchy and disorder.
"It would then bo poeaible and even probable
that the regular movement which has hitherto
taken place might suddenly assume the character of
violence and passion. Whatever power the idea
of order may exercise over the Italians, there are
provocations which the most civilised people
cannot resist. Assuredly they world be more to
be pitied than blamed if for the first time they gave
way to violent reactions, which would lead to the
most lamentable consequences. History informs
us that a people who are now at the head of civili-
zation have committed under the Empire the most
deplorable excesses for less serious causes.
" Should it expose the Peninsula to similar dan-
gers, the Goverment of the King would be culpable
towards Italy ; it would not be less so towards
Europe.

"The King would be wanting in his duties to-
wards the Italians, who have always hearkened to
the counsels of moderation which he has given them,
and who have intrusted to him the high mission of
directing the national movement.
"He would be wanting in his duties towards
Europe, for he has contracted towards it the moral
engagement of not allowing the Italian movement
to degenerate into anarchy and disorder.
" It is to fulfil this double duty that the Govern-
ment of the King, so soon as the insurgent popu-
lation of the Marches and of Umbria sent him de-
putations to invoke his protection, granted it to
them at once. At the same time he sent a diplo-
matic agent to Rome to ask the Pontifical Govern-
ment to send away the foreign legions which could
not serve to suppress the manifestations of the pro-
vinces which touch upon our frontiers without
forcing us to interfere in their favour.
" On the refusal of the Court of Rome to comply 1
with that request, the King has issued an order to
his troops to enter Umbria and the Marches with
the mission of re-establishing order there, and of
leaving a free field to the populations for manifest-
ing their sentiments.
" The Royal troops will scrupulously respect
Rome and the territory which surrounds it. They