The Sun.
London, England, 1860-04-23 00:00:00

APRIL' '23, :1860.

signed himself " Alberto di Savoia'' but who took
his full name of " Charles Albert" on his ac- ,
cession to the throne in 1831. These letters, which
evince a great deal of pious feeling on Charles
Albert's part, were lately given to the public by the
Cavaliere Zanotti, the son of the deceased Royal
nurse. The incident occurred in the middle of
September, 1822.

FICTO1? EMMANUEL AND THE POPE.

The Continental press is occupied at this moment
with a correspondence which derives its principal
interest from the station and position of the parties
between whom it has passed. The present genera-
tion seems determined to leave no State secrets to

be dug up by posterity. Every great event is made
clear, and finished off for history directly it has
taken place. No sooner has Victor Emmanuel been,

by implication, cut off from Papal communion, than
we are treated to the correspondence which preceded
this decisive ecclesiastical stroke. The Royal and
the Holy letter-writers submit their lucubrations to
the world, like two stockbrokers who may have had
a personal difference upon Epsom Downs ; and they
tacitly call upon the European public to judge be-
tween them which was in fault in the original
dispute, and which has borne himself best in the
subsequent discussion. General Lamoriciere may
be creating Papal Zouaves for some unexplained
purpose, and Victor Emmanuel may be looking to
the efficiency of his army with a view to possible
contingencies. If it should be thought expedient
ultimately to appeal to trial by battle, the right
is reserved ; but meanwhile we are invited to
examine on which side the reason of the matter
lies. Therefore it is that we find circulated all
over the Continent those two long letters from
the King of Sardinia to the Pope, and those two short
letters from the Pope to the King of Sardinia. - But
no reflecting person who remembers who the writers
are will be surprised at discovering that on neither
side are the real considerations which influenced
the opinion of Europe mentioned or even hinted at.
The misgovernment of the Roman States and the
misery of the people are, and always have been,
non-existent to the vision both of the King and the
Sovereign Ecclesiastic.
It is a very curious specimen of Royal and Pon-
tifical correspondence. The King writes most like
a priest, and the Priest most like a dragoon. On
the one side we have a Monarch with a relatively
powerful army using the most gentle and deferential
and peaceful language, striving in the most oily
phrase to convince the Priest that it is his Majesty's
dety to take from the Priest something which the
Priest earnestly desires to retain. On the other
side we have the testy old Priest, in short, stringent,
and decisive sentences, rejecting these blandish-
ments, abusing their author very heartily, and
telling him in good set terms what he may expect
here, and especially hereafter, if he should dare to
interfere with his property. It seems that so early
as the 3d of last December the Pope had written
an autograph letter to the King of Sardinia, de-
siring him to maintain before the then projected
Congress the rights of the Holy See. The King,
on the 6th of February following, replies to this
apostolic letter, and, instead of promising compli-
ance with this request, sets forth to the Holy Father
what the Sardinian view of the then existing crisis
is. Victor Emmanuel is the devoted son of the
Church, his race is a pious race, and all his own acts
have been of the most pious character. The Pope,
he flatters himself, cannot but feel how sincere his
veneration has been, and what zeal he has shown
in defence of " the right and authority which the
Holy See exercises on earth by virtue of the Divine
mandate of Heaven." He has given a hundred
proofs. When the Legations rose against the Papal
authority it was entirely without any prompting
from Sardinia. When they offered themselves for
annexation Victor Emmanuel repulsed them. When
"the presence of an audacious General"—meaning,
of course, Garibaldi—" put in peril the tranquility
of provinces occupied by the troops of the Holy
See," who but Victor Emmanuel interposed to re-
move him from the neighbourhood? But all these
good offices of the Sardinian King were in vain.
The people expelled the officers of his Holiness, and
continued to attend their churches and to conduct
their religious ceremonials just as if they had been
acting under express orders from Rome. This was
a very distressing state of matters • but what was
to be done ? It so happened that Victor Emmanuel
had a particular mission to perform. It was the
mission which was proclaimed by Pope Julius 11.,
and which was taken up by the Sovereigns of the
House of Savoy ; and its purport was "to deliver
Italy from foreign domination." It was unhappily
evident—thus Victor Emmanuel went on to argue
—that the re-conquest of the Romagna could
only be effected by foreign assistance. This
the honour of a Prince of the House of Savoy
could not allow, and the " generous heart and
the evangelical charity" of the Pope could not
possibly permit him to wish. Religion itself would
suffer ; and, although physically the dominion
of the Pope might be thus restored, morally the pro-
vinces would be still more entirely lost. It was very
difficult to know what a devoted son of the Church,
and the scion of a pious race, and the inheritor of the
task of expelling foreigners from Italy, ought to do
in so complex a contingency. But Victor Emmanuel
had his idea. That idea he submitted with confidence
to the Pope. It was this—that Romagna and the
Marches and Umbria should all be allowed to parti-
cipate in the blessings which annexation to a strong
Italian kingdom had already
i secured to a large por-
tion of Central Italy. This s, lightly paraphrased,
the pith of this humble and oily epistle. The Pope,
when he got to the end of it, seems to have bounded
from the chair of St. Peter. He had called upon Vic-
tor Emmanuel to restore him the Romagna, and
Victor Emmanuel had disclosed to him his " idea"
of taking from him not only the Romagna, but also
the Marches and Umbria. The Pope throws back
the Royal " idea" with fierce indignation, denounc-
ing it as utterly unworty of a Catholic King and of
a Prince of the House of Savoy. He says nothing
about Julius 11., but uses strong language as to the
miserable state of that man's soul who could differ so
diametrically from the Pope, and could have such
bad designs upon the Papal States.
It must be confessed that the King of Sardinia's
"idea'' was somewhat of that character which we
conventionally call " cool." To approach a man
with expressions of veneration and devotedness, and
then to tell him that the only plan you can suggest
for recovering his lost property is that he should
surrender all the rest, does seem calculated to put a
venerable old gentleman into a passion, even if he
should be a Pope. There was a grand opportunity
here for a grave and dignified rebuke which must
have told on the opinion of the world. Pio Nono,
however, misses the occasion, falls to scolding, and
abuses his adversary's soul ; giving occasion to
irreverend bystanders to laugh rather than sympa-
thize. The King waited a month after this, and
then renewed the correspondence in the same vague
deferential tone, but allowing, as before, a very de-
cided meaning to peep through his silken phrases.
He talked of a necessity which the force of events
had induced, and to which even the Holy See must
submit, and he spoke of contributing to the charges
of the Popedom. In indistinct but unmistakable
words he offers the Pope a title and a pension. The
Pope's response to this letter has more of the gravity
of a State document than that which was drawn
from him by the sudden development of the King
of Sardinia's first idea. He protests strongly, and
he launches at the King some sharp epigrams, in-
insinuating many charges of which he had no
actual proof, but could have no moral doubt. He
does not, however, scold.
As nothing arose out of this correspondence,
which, when the King and the Pope had exhausted
themselves, was continued with an equal inconse-
quence by Cardinal Antonelli and Count Cavour,
we confess we cannot see any very special reason
why it should now be printed. In it both parties
maintain the position which all the world knows
that they have long held. The King of Sardinia
is bent upon reunitin, all Italy under his own
sceptre—a very patriotic and highly praiseworthy
enterprise, which is not without its collateral and
personal allurements. The Pope is doggedly deter-
mined to maintain in its integrity the most stupid
despotism that Christendom has ever seen, or to
scream and threaten as each shred is torn from him.
There is no new information in this. Both parties
in this correspondence act thoroughly up to the
part which they have undertaken to play. Perhaps
we may learn a little more distinctly from the
King's totter that it is within his present plan to
help himself to the rest of the Roman States. We
knew already, however, that he had offered the
Pope a titular sovereignty and a pension, and we
kne w also that the Pope had obstinately refuse all
negotiation and all compromise.-7'imes.

THE STANDARD HEIGHT OF THE FRENCH ARMY.
—Marshal Randon, in his report to the French Emperor,
dated 13th of April, recommends that, in consequence of the
great difficulty of obtaining conscripts of the height laid
down by the Regulations of 1857, the standard be reduced
one centimetre throughout the service. The Emperor has
confirmed this suggestion, and desired it to be earned out in
future. The present standard requires Carabineers to be 1
metre 76 centimetres in height ; Dragoons, 1.69 ; Chasseurs
d'Afrique, 1.66 ; and soldiers of the line, L 56. Thus, the
tallest recruit must be 5 feet 9 inches, the smallest about 5
feet 2 inches.
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