The Sun.
London, England, 1856-07-14 00:00:00

AFFAIRS OF ITALY.

(Front the Morning Advertiser of this day.)
Lord John Russell's motion in reference to the affairs
of Italy is to be brought forward this evening. If the
question, in the existing state of things, was to be
brought on at all, we wish the motion had fallen into
other hands than those of Lord John Russell. Even if
it were the fact, that the noble lord, in bringing the
question forward, is influenced by the purest and most
generous motives, neither the house nor the country
will believe that he is. If anything which bears the
visage of Liberalism, whether at home or abroad, is in-
troduced to the House of Commons by his lordship, it is
so invariably when he is out of office. We believe we
may safely challenge the most ardent admirers of Lord
John, if he has any ardent admirers left, to point out to
us one single instance in which be has brought forward
i and carried a popular measure—for measures are often
brought forward by those in power, as mere blinds to
the people, without the intention of their being carried
—either when he was himself at the head of the Admi
nistration, or a member of the Government of any other
Premier. We know of no such case. Lord John's
Irish Church "Appropriation principle," his Reform Bills,
resolution on the American question, and his motion on
the condition of the Italian States, have all had their
birth-place on the unofficial benches of the Rouse of
Commons.

With regard to the movement of to-night, we venture
to say that there is not a man in the country who be-
lieves that in the bringing forward his resolution the
noble lord is influenced solely by a generous regard for
Italy. There is nobody in England who does not feel
that his lordship is induced to take the course he is
pursuing from personal considerations. He knows that
he has lost the last shred of his popularity, and that by
tse loss of his popularity he has d►squalified himself fur
political power, unless he should, by some such ingeni-
ous device as this, so far recover his lost nrcstige, as
to make himself tolerable to the people. Does any one
believe that had the noble lord been in cffice he would
have made it an indispensable condition to his remaining
in the Cabinet, that those principles favourable to Italian
independence and liberty, which he will this evening lay
down, should be carried out by the Government? If there be
any such person in England,—one so very simple and
unsuspecting,—we should be extremely delighted to see
so rare a specimen of confiding humanity.
But though the country views with pain, instead of
pleasure, the introduction of the Italian question by Lord
J. Russell, all the deepest and tenderest sympathies of
the people of England are with the oppressed popula-
tions of the Italian States. And we do trust that Lord
Palmerston will, this evening, express himsel in lan-
guage so explicit and so energetic in favour of the free-
dom and independence of Italy, as to leave no room any
longer to doubt that he and his colleagues profoundly
feel for the down-trodden nationalities on the other side
of the Alps. We trust he will also satisfy the house
that he has determined that some decisive course shall
forthwith be adopted by this country—even should our
Imperial Ally decline to co-operate with us—to rescue
the Italians from a despotism and degradation so great,
that it becomes a crime on the part of a free country so
powerful as England to withhold from them that aid
by which alone they can hope t.) obtain their deliver-
ance.

(Prom the Times of this day.)
To-day Lord John Russell is to bring before the House
of Commons a motion on the state of affairs in Itaiy. Ie
is not too much to say that at this moment the state of
Italy is, next to our own doniestie concerns, the question
of deepest interest to the English people. The aunerence
of Piedmont to the alliance increased the popularity of
the war, the notes of the Count de Cevour have been
read everywhere with sympathy and a high degree of
pride at the courage which they display, and it i- again
and again demanded whether the year of the Conferences
is to pass away without something being done in toe
cause of a nation to which Europe owes a reparation for
so many years of neglect.
At this momenta tremor of expectation runs through-
out the oppressed land. The position taken by Pied-
moot has introduced a new element into the calculation
of Italian Liberals. As far as externals go, nothing is
altered—nay, matters seem merely to be sinking daily
from bad to worse. The recent trials at Naples show
that the unhappy King is determined to proceed in his
course of tyranny.
We may ask, then, not through any idle curiosity,
nor from a mere love of finding fault, but from a (jeep
sense that this is a great opportunity, what support
British representatives are giving to the cause which
their countrymen have at heart ? We have no wish to
turn our Ministers at foreign Courts into intermeddlers
or demagogues, but there certainly seems to be a course
that they might take without trespassing on the rights
of the Sovereigns to whom they are accredited. Now,
it is said that the British Ministers at Florence and
Naples are by no means warm in the cause which the'
great body of their countrymen have espoused.
On the contrary, these personages are reported to
have a deep sense of the error that Englishmen
commit in sympathising with Italian liberty, and
to have no scruples in lamenting the delusion ta,
courtly listeners. A. representative who behaves with'
marked coldness to men of liberal opinions, who avows
his approval of Austrian domination, and professes not to
encourage the notions prevalent among his own country-
men, is hardly likely to further the constitutional cause
iir Tuscany, or to Induce the Pope to rule so as to die-
pense with the French and Austrian occupation. We can
well understand that the more sensible advisers of such
a potentate as the Grand Duko should be anxious to se-
cure a lease of power even at the expense of the old sys-
tem and the old alliance. Net only do the people look
to England and France, but their rulers, wise in their
generation, do not fail to see that monarchy in Piedmont
has gained much by an union with the West. A Tus-
can Minister is therefore not unnaturally solicitous to
stand well with the two Powers, even at the cost of
some separation from Vienna and some weakening
of the so-called paternal system of government.
Such a feeling it is evidently the duty of the British
diplomatist to encourage. What, then, if it be true
that Lord Normanby, her Majesty's representative at
Florence, makes no sign, but rather gives it to be un-
dereteud that he is personally in favour of all that is es
tablished, and of the great Power under whose protec-
tion the Grand Dukes have hitherto lived ? The French
repeseutative is ,aid to be far more ready in his eucour-
agemeut of any traces of liberalism which may appear
iu the conduct of the Tuscan politicians, and to him is
owing whatever independence of Austrian authority has
been lately shown. Now, we think that the public at
the present crisis expects more than a mere prefunctory
discharge of duties, and would especially regret to hear
that any harm to the Italian cause had arisen from the
autocratic sympathies of an English Minister. We
trust that every servant of the crown, both at home and
abroad, will endeavour in this matter to advance a cause
which is founded on justice, and has received the ap-
probation-6f all right•thinking men.