The Sun.
London, England, 1860-08-27 00:00:00

THE ITALIAN QUESTION.

It is unpleasant to be deceived, but still more un-
pleasant to be undeceived. Every one has read of,
and many, alas ! have felt, that period of life when
the passions of youth have cooled, when its illu-
sions have vanished, when things appear just as
they are, without colour and without exaggeration,
or even a little worse than they are. • This is a time
of much grumbling and infinite discontent, when
man pleases not nor woman either, when the salt of
existence has lost its savour, and we have nothing
left wherewithal to salt it. The person suffering
under this visitation of hypochondria probably
views it in a very different light. His own ill-
humour and disappointment he is apt to regard as
the result of a stoical or rather cynical philosophy,
and mistakes the sourness of his own mind for eleva-
tion and comprehensiveness of view.
Such we apprehend to be the morbid condition
under which Sir G. • Bowyer is at this moment
labouring. He has had for many- years a vision of
Italy, and that vision has become dear to and in-
separable from his highest aspirations. He has seen
her " great, glorious, and free" under the mild guid-
ance of an infallible Pontiff; who infuses into the
secular business of government the pure wisdom and
the all-inclusive charity which he has learnt from his
sacred vocation, and who strengthens the aspirations
of his subjects for a Paradise beyond the grave by
affording them as lively an image as human frailty
will permit of an earthly Elysium. Tuscany has
been " mildly governed" by her legitimate Sove-
reign, who has had no other fault than being too
good for his people. Naples has a liberal King,
who, in the fulness of the liberality of his Royal
heart, and without the slightest compulsion, external
or internal, grants his people liberty of the press,
the right of bearing arms, and a free Constitution.
Parma has been uniformly well governed, at
least since her last Duke was murdered ; and
Modena is justly celebrated for the advanced
liberalism of her Duke, and the excellence of his
administration. Such was the happy state of the
Italian Peninsula, recalling the glorious days
of old Saturn. when, behold, a change sud-
denly arises. It is not that Austria is over-
thrown by France ; oh! no ; such an event could
not, of course, influence the future of a nation
founded on the rock of the Papacy, and obeying no
other behests than those which she receives from
patriotic and paternal Princes. But Lord Palmer-
ston and Lord John Russell and others, greatly
envying the happy state of this favoured region,
make inflammatory speeches in the House of Com-
mons ; the press catches the contagion ; a ferment
is excited in the minds of the people ; a fiend in
human shape arises in the form of the pirate Gari-
baldi, and all this happiness is destroyed, and the
Eden of the Universe, the abode of peace, enlighten-
ment, and contentment, is involved in the flames of
a sanguinary revolution. How can Sir G. Bowyer,
who as a Knight of Malta may fairly consider him-
self as a prominent bulwark of this happy order of
things, refrain from deep grief at seeing these
things I' In vain Lord Palmerston assures him that
he has no band in the enterprise of Garibaldi, that
he never spoke of it in terms of exultation, and that
if the said Garibaldi does succeed in Naples, it must
be due entirely to the widespread discontent which
the rule of its admirable Prince has created, and
not by his own strength. In vain does Sir G.
Bowyer strive to find solace in the thought that
the King of Naples has the fullest right to hang
Garibaldi, if he can catch him. The galling

thought will recur that it is far more likely Garr
baldi will catch the King of Naples than that the
King of Naples will catc Garibaldi; and that as
for hanging, the less said of that ill-omened word
in these days, when thousands are panting to wreak
a bloody vengeance on the tyrants who have so
19g trampled on them, the better. We admit that,
according to existing appearances, Sir G. Bowyer's
woes are inconsolable. But let him have patience.
Who knows what time may not have in store for
him ? Austrian bayonets still bristle behind the
Quadrilateral ; the Italians in the intoxication of
their triumph may venture an attack, and lose all as
they have won all. The exiled sbirri may return to
Naples ; the thingeons may once more be fitted up for
the reception of all that is brave and noble in the
c4ntry ; the affairs of the Pope mallyet revive, his
authority rests on a solid and self-supporting foun-
dation of human prejudice and ignorance ' • the In-
quisition sleeps, but is not dead ; Antonelli is vigi-
lant and dexterous, and Sir G. Bowyer may yet live
to sing Nunc Dinzittis over the extinguished ashes
of that flame of Italian liberty which now burns so
brightly and blazes so high.
Turning from the disconsolate champion of the
Papacy, we have much pleasure in recognising the
truth and justice of the remarks of Mr. Kinnaird
and Mr. Kinglake on Friday night, receiving, as
they do' confirmation from the assent or silence of
Lord Palmerston. It is quite true that the annexa-
tion of Savoy has been purchased very dearly by the
French Government. We are told this trifling ac-
cession of territory may be regarded with much
favour by a nation which no amount of misery or
slaughter seems able to cure of the fatal lust for
territorial aggrandisement. The Emperor may by
taking Savoy and Nice have seated himself more
firmly on the throne. That is quite possible. But
beyond the frontiers of France the feeling that has
been created is coldly rendered by the cautious and
diplomatic term of " distrust." The feeling is some-
thing far more active and energetic than distrust.
It is the natural desire for mutual support and as-
sistance; it has breathed life and some sort of
energy into the torpid and disunited frame of Ger-
many. It has taught Austria more powerfully than
the carnage of Solferino that she can only exist by
modifying her system of stupid and objectless re-
pression. It has convoked a Council of the Empire,
which may, perhaps, be the faint and doubtful
dawn of a better and brighter day. It has roused
Prussia to the defects of her military system, and
taught her to consider how she is to meet the
Zouaves with a force little superior to ordinary
militia. It has drawn Austria and Prussia together.
It has excited the patriotic feelings of Belgium and
the energetic protests of Switzerland. And in
England it has done much to dissipate the dream
of a cordial alliance, to which we have clung so
fondly and so perseveringly, and set us seriously
to work, as Mr. Kinglake truly remarks, to prepare
for all the worst evils of war. These things the
annexation of Savoy has done. If any one wishes
to measure the amount of the change, let him com•
pare the speech of Lord Palmerston on Friday even-
ing with his former speeches when any attempt
was made to inspire distrust of the Emperor of the
French. Perhaps when these matters begin to be
better understood in France the nation may see how
high a price must be paid for these territorial
acquisitions, and how impossible it is to combine at
the same time the security and regard of neigh-
bouring States which wait upon a peaceful and
honourable policy with the gratification of these
empty dreams of ambition -which the disasters and
miseries of the First liT,npire seemed for a time to
have eradicated, but which the false policy of Louis
Philippe and the aggresive attitude of the present
Government of France have only too fully revived.

Lord Clyde (says the United Service Gazette)
loft town on Thursday for Vichy, the mineral waters of
which have been recommended to his lordship as a most
powerful restorative after the relaxing effects of his Indian
campaign. His lordship's friends need, however, be under
no apprehension respecting his health, as this visit is merely
the fulfilment of an intention which was defeated by the
sudden breaking out of the great mutiny. His lordship
bad, we believe, his luggage packed, and was about to start
for Vichy when the letter of the Prime Minister reached
him, requesting him to take the Indian command. Every-
one knows the promptitude with which Lord Clyde an-
e cured to the call of his country on that occasion.