The Sun.
London, England, 1860-10-10 00:00:00

THE NEAPOLIT IN REVOLUTION.

One more act remains, and then the curtain will
probably fall for a season on the drama of the
Neapolitan Revolution. We learn by the latest
advices that Victor Emmanuel has taken the final
resolution, was already on his way to the Neapoli-
tan frontier, and had issued his address to the people
of Southern Italy. It was before known that Gari-
baldi was himself again, and had invited the inter-
ference of his own Sovereign, and that all
question as to the international legality of his acts
would soon be merged in the responsibility of the
Sardinian Government. That crisis has now
arrived, and it is possible that by this time the Rubi-
con is crossed, and that a decisive battle has shattered
the last hopes of the Bourbons. These prospects
materially narrow the issue of the Italian question,
and make it impossible for us to halt any longer
amid conflicting sympathies. We have to choose
between the Sardinian programme, as explained by
Count Cavour, and a reaction of some kind, whether
it be originated in the interests of France, Austria,
or anarchy. There are times for all things, and this
is no time for scrutinising too nicely the policy
by which Sardinia has gained the control of the
present movement. Whether to a Roman capacity
for self-government and internal organisation
she may not have added a Roman tendency
to absorb neighbouring populations can well be
doubted without compromising the expression of
our views at the present juncture. That "poli-
tical necessity" which can alone justify some
of our own acquisitions in India, or the famous
seizure of the Danish fleet, may have lately re-
ceived an interpretation too favourable to Sardinian
interests. The dissimulation and temporising atti-
tude of Cavour must certainly share with the genius
of Garibaldi the credit of bringing on a dilemma
which offers but one hopeful alternative. Darker
and more suspicious influences may have been at
work, and the correspondence which the Sardinian
Ministers have declined to produce may relate to
matters the knowledge of which has led to the Con-
ference at Warsaw. In short, there may have been,
and may still be, much to excite scruples, but these
scruples are not for us. Public opinion in the Papal
and Neapolitan territories, however stimulated, has
clearly declared for a kingdom of Italy. It is our
privilege, and the direct result of our adherence to
non-intervention, that we are not affected with
notice of any questionable transactions, and are free
to wish well to the triumph of constitutionalism in
Italy.
No country but Spain has exhibited the slightest
commiseration for Francis 11. The dynasty which
he represents was founded by a filibustering expe-
dition less venial than that of Garibaldi, and the
earliest of its title deeds is the victory of Don Carlos
over the Austrians in 1735. If conventions be-
tween Sovereigns can confer rights over peoples,
why should we stop short at the Treaty of Aix-la-
Chapelle ? Why not go back as far as the Peace
of Utrecht, in accordance with which Victor Ama-
deus, Duke of Savoy, was crowned King of Sicily
at Palermo ? Such arguments, however, are worth-
less, even where they are not contradictory, and,
since the retujn of the Bonapartes to the throne of
France has been somehow reconciled with the en-
gagements of the Congress of Vienna, it is mere
affectation to strain at gnats in dynastic questions.
Upon any other ground than legitimacy the bold-
est partisans of the Bourbons would scarcely
venture to utter a word. Being often reproved,
and that by Governments but one degree less
tyrannical than themselves, they have hardened
their necks, and, if they are now destroyed sud-
denly and without remedy, no regret for the past
will be mingled in any anxiety that may be felt
for the future. But why should we speak
despondingly of the future ? The Piedmontese
have hitherto shown: that they possess those rare
qualities which fit nations to rule themselves and
others. Their constitution is not slavishly modelled
upon our own, but it is analogous to it, and has
proved capable of uniting and assimilating for par-
peses of government, provinces so unlike as Savoy,
Genoa, Tuscany, and the /Emilia. The loss of the
former, however detrimental to the national hon-
our, is the loss of what we may call the most sta-
tionary and un-English element in this composite
State. There may be doubts whether the more
backward districts of Southern Italy are quite
worthy of a representative system, but they must
be ten times more unfit for republicanism, and
failed. Moreover, the Sardinians are no wanting
tyranny has already tried its hand. on
t them and
in administrative ability.
Cavour was the Peel
before he was the Palmerston of Northern Italy,
and laid the foundations of her prosperity in eco-
nomy, education, and the abolittio donooofbptrtiheasttly
7gipvreei;
dominance. We see no reason
exoteerxneaelllternanoequoillif tthyiarnedxdisuteiorgespleacwtsand being
institu-
tions, paid to
th
tions, the Two Sicilies might be governed from
Turin as successfully as, after centuries of injustice
and rebellion, Ireland is now governed from Lon-
don. It is very easy to attribute to national cha-
racter failures which are really due to circumstances,
and we should be glad to learn what previous
chance aanrceenltaly
o ffdhearse had
ad of abusing opportunities such
to
her.
But we have otherg
reasons for desiring the for-
mation of a " strong So .So large an extension
of what the Pope calls the " Sub-Alpine
Kingdom"
must affect for good or evil the
balance of power
on the Continent. If Count C aa our s solemn decla-
rations are to be believed, we have more to hope
than to fear from this consequence,
be a stipulation for a fresh cession Unless there
of territory
to France, that Power,though,
will
like Austria,
it may retain a foot in Italy, have
strong, instead' of a weak, neighbour. Since
the propagandism of the
first French Revolu-
tion e oppressed nationalities"the
favourite have been
favourite pretext of French ambition. When the
antagonism of races is permanently eliminated from
Italy, and she becomes independent aid,
"gratitude" of foreign aid,
"gratitude" will cease to be so prominent a motive
with her statesmen, and the ominous hints thrown
out in the Savoy debate of expected co-operation
with France on the Rhine will lose their sigbifi-
cance. The same stroke which provides a counter-
poise to France in the Mediterranean robs Austria

of an obsequious ally, and may induce her to part
with the last fragment of her Italian empire—an
empire ruinous to her subjects and a source of
weakness to herself. Whether the fall of the Papacy
as a spiritual Power will be hastened by
the loss of its temporalities it is idle to
conjecture. Bunyan was too sanguine when
he described the giant Pope as " grown so
crazy and stiff in his joints that he can now do
little more than sit in his cave's mouth, grinning
at pilgrims as they go by, and biting his nails be-
cause he cannot come at them." The extraordinary
vitality of the Roman Catholic Church forbids us
to hazard a like prognostication in casting the
horoscope of Italian destiny. But enough remains
without this to justify the interest that will be felt
by Englishmen in the enterprise of Victor Em-
manuel. If he should succeed in steering an even
course between Napoleon 111. and Mazzini, and
establishing rational liberty throughout the Penin-
sula, he will find that non-intervention does not
mean indifference in this country. We have too
much respect for international law to foster insur-
rection in foreign States, but we have too little love
for despotism to invoke its strict rules on behalf of
it
s
own Government which flagrantly broke faith with
own subjects, and with which we have long since
ceased to hold any communication,—Times.