The Sun.
London, England, 1867-02-28 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TIMES.—But a few mouths have elapsed since the
Liberal party was divided and disorganised to a
degree which seemed to exclude all prospect of its
early reconstruction. Not only was it far from
being agreed on the question of Reform, but its
general want of discipline and concert was such as
to provoke many taunts from the adverse camp.
Both the misgivings of friends and the premature
exultation of foes have been signally and rapidly
abated, and this is the more remarkable when viewed
in connection with the conspicuous absence of party
spirit which has hitherto characterised the debates
of this Session. The party is united in a policy, not
of aggression, but of forbearance—of forbearance
towards opponents who are known to be weakened
by disunion. So far as its tactics have been disclosed
by its proceedings in Parliament, or by what oc-
curred at the private meeting on Tuesday, they are
the very reverse of factious. Instead cf attempt-
ing to defeat the Government Reform Bill and re-
cover office ou a false issue, the Liberals seem pre-
pared to support Lord Derby's Ministry against its
own reluctant, if not mutinous, followers in carry-
ing a measure which may settle the Reform contro-
versy for a generation. There is every reason to
believe that if Mr. Disraeli succeeds in the difficult
task before him, it will be due to the patriotic con-
duct of the Opposition, and that if he fails it will
be due to the infatuation of those whom he nomi-
nally leads. He may be right, or wrong, in asserting
that Mr. Bright and Mr. Lowe agree in wishing no
good to his scheme of Reform, but he well knows that
his greatest clanger lies in an opposite quarter. While
the great body of Liberals is determined to pro-
mote, at any sacrifice, the
passing of a moderate but
genuine Reform Bill, a certain number of Tories
are equally determined to resist any Reform Bill
but a sham one. We can hardly be wrong in at-
tributing to their officious counsels the pedantic
idea of makilug any considerable reduction of the
borough franchise dependent on the adoption of a
" plurality of votes." It is from such friends as
these, and not from Mr. Gladstone, that the present
Government Las most need to be saved. If we ask
what has wrought so great a change in the position
and spirit of that party, several answers suggest
themselves. We might explain it by the salutary
and proverbial; effects of a temporary banishment
from power, but we prefer to seek a deeper and
more adequate cause. The truth is that a convic-
tion has been slowly maturing itself inmost educated
minds that it is no longer wise to go on trifling
with Reform. The House of Commons, and espe-
cially that section of it which professes to be Liberal,
has gradually become conscious that it is to some
extent on its trial before the nation. As Mr. Lowe
truly says, the problem of Reform has of late
assumed a somewhat different aspect, and " efforts
have been recently made to show that the House
has failed in its duty." Whether these efforts have
been more or less successful, and whether any defi-
nite grievance has been shown which the present
Legislature is unwilling to redress, are points into
which it is needless here to enter. tis enough that
public attention is fixed with increasing vigilance
on the shortcomings of our legislation, and, in par-
ticular, onto javioct of the 1401150 of commons to

redeem the pledges of self-reform which it has so
often given. The country is fairly sick of the agi-
tation and obstruction of public business incident
_ _

to the introduction of Reform Bi;h destined to be

stifled, and is beginning to suspect the sincerity of
those who always find some good reason for stifling
them. Were this impatience confined to extreme
Radicals, it would be of less importance, but it is

sharerl by sensible men of all clsses anciopinions.

Ever since it has been admitted that Reform can-

not be staved off or conjured away, it has been the

earnest wish of such in-en to " seitle" it, and this

wish has been reflected with rare unailimity by the

most influential organs of the Press. At last the
House of Commons has realised this, and its Liberal

members are giving the best proof of their public

spirit by postponing all other Considerations to the
cause of Morin. Much, however, is due to the

temper and forbearance of Mr. Gladstone, who has
never shown himself to such advantage while in
office as in rallying his party under adversity. his
moderation has not oniv won the confidence of all

whom he led to defeat last session, as well as time
general respect of the house, but has also made. it
easy for stragglers and deserters to r..join his stan-
dard. We observe that several of this class were
present at the meeting on Tuesday, and no one ex-
pressed more unreserved loyalty than Lord Grosve-
nor. Like Mr. Laing, Lord Grosvenor justified his
separation from the Liberals on the last Reform
Bill upon the ground that it contained no element of
finality, and offered no sure resting-place for the
future. Perhaps the attempt to find any such rest-
ing-place may be chimerical ; at all events, as Lord
Grosvenor perceives, the present Government have
failed to propose one. He, therefore, re-enlists
under the old banner ; and prudence, no less than
charity, suggests that he and others in a like posi-
tion should welcomed back. Mr. Bright stands

almost alone among the Liberals who hi-ive as yet
declared their views on the bill in avowing himself
unable to see any hope of making it worth passing.
Even he disclaims any intention of rejecting it

simply because it proceeds from a ConseriativeGo-
vernment, but we cannot affect to feel any regret
that a certain divergence of opinion should exist
between him and Mr. Gladstone upon the duty of
the Opposition. Whatever may hive been Mr.
Bright's services to Reform, it was certainly the
imputation, just or unjust, of subserviency to his
advice which lost Mr. Gladstone last session the

allegiance of many valuable supporters. It is essen-
tial to the power, if not to the character, of a States-
man dealing with a great Constitutional question
that he should act with perfect and manifest inde-
pendence. Mr. Bright assures us.now that he did

not exercise the influence ascribed to him last ses

sion. If he can only convince the house that he
exercises no influence this session other than that

which his ability must always command for him, the
hands of Mr. Gladstone will be vastly strengthened

for the advancement of Reform. -
THE WESTMINSTER GAZETTE ON " THE FOREIGN
POLICY OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON."—To make
war on Austria, as was done on the most frivil-
ous pretext by Napoleon 111., was to league with
the Revolution. For Austria, with all her faults,
was the great conservative power of Europe, the
most determined, most persevering foe, whom the
Revolution had encountered. And how could a

prince, possessed of the smallest Catholic instincts
----one, too, who called himself the protector of the
Church, the restorer of order—find the heart to
make war on the only other great Catholic State in
Europe? Had her disastrous policy in the thirty
years' war, when she allied herself with the enemies
of her creed, taught France no lesson ? Had she,
who had just herself recovered from a, tremendous
social crisis no sympathy for one involved in
perils nearly similar, and who needed all her efforts
to staunch her bleeding wounds ? Did not every
motive of self-interest, as well as of justice and
humanity, dictate to Napoleon HI. a policy of for-
bearance towards such an Empire ? But it will
be said, the state of Italy demanded the interven-
tion of France, and that for that country there was
no repose, as well as no progress, as long as Austria
there retained her dominion. Let us impartially
examine facts. Austria had, since the treaty of
Utrecht, possessed Lombardy ; and in 1797 the
Venetian territory was ceded to her by the First
Napoleon ; a cession which was ratified by the Con-
gress of Vienna in 1815. This was a part of that
fatal system of agglomerations so much lauded in
the recent speech of the French Emperor, and
which is there attributed to the genius of Napo-
leon I. Now, what was the general character of
the Austrian rule in Italy ? There can be no
doubt that for the first years after the general
peace the incessant plots and revolutionary man-
oeuvres of the Carbonari had led to very severe
measures of repression on the part of the Austrian
Government. The Emperor Francis 11. had
suffered so much from revolutions, that he pun-
ished rebellion with greater severity than any other
crime. But, at all events, since the accession of
the Emperor Ferdinand in 1837, the Austrian
rule had been remarkable for its mildness. No
Italian Government, aid scarcely any Govern-
ment in Europe, did so much for agriculture,
commerce, and manufactures, and for education,
whether popular or liberal. In these respects no
country was more blessed than Lombardy by the
munificence of Nature and the industry of man.
In 1838 Venice was declared a free port, and its
commerce for the ten years preceding 1848 was
extremely flourishing. On this subject an elegant
and accomplished Catholic traveller has recently
written as follows :
" To Austria be the glory of having raised Venice to
the state in which she now leaves her. If her streets and
canals show evident marks of a steadily-increasing
trade, and of the prosperity which naturally attends it, to
Austria is she indebted for that hopeful sign ; if her
palaces on the Grand Canal no longer exhibit the marks
of violence and ruin which once characterised them so
painfully, to Austrian care and Austrian liberality is it
entirely owing ; and if those of her churches which
escaped the destructive rapacity of the French plunderers
are yet rich in monuments which record her ancient
grandeurs, and in shrines that testify to the piety of her
children, to Austrian reverence and to Austrian Catho-
licity must the praise be given."
With the accession of the Emperor Francis Joseph
a new era dawned on the Austrian Empire. The
Lombardo-Venetian Kingdom began to reap the
blessings proffered by the new regime. A Con-
cordat with the Holy See guaranteed the freedom
of the Church, and emancipated her from the
fetters of the Leopoldine laws, which had been
gradually relaxed. More extended powers were
granted to the municipal corporations ; and in
proportion as order were consolidated in the re-
cently distracted empire, solid liberties would have
been established in which Italy would have had a
full share. Now, in regard to a country, the
cradle of his family, and which naturally called
forth his liveliest interest and sympathy, what,
under the circumstances stated, was the policy
which justice and prudence alike dictated to the
Emperor Napoleon 111. ? Was it not to endeavour
jby his counsels to bring about a Confederation of
the Italian States, under the Presidency of the
Sovereign Pontiff—a Confederation which, like the
Germanic Diet, would have secured Italy against
foreign aggression, and left to each State its auto-
nomy ? Was it not his true policy to form a
league with the Italian Governments to resist the
efforts of the revolutionary party—to advise them
to establish on a solid basis the freedom of the
Church—to reform all abuses in the administra-
tion and in courts of law, and to renovate the
old systems of representation, adapted to the tra-
ditions, the circumstances, the wants, the interests
of the various classes in the various States of the
Italian Peninsula? What an impulse would such
a Confederation have given to Italian industry?
What a field would it not have opened to Italian
commerce, stretching from the southern shores of
Sicily to the farthest extremities of Hungary ?
If Austria had entered on a better system of
government in Italy, as elsewhere, had not -an-
other Italian Power set a noble example of legi-
timate reforms? Had not the venerable Pontiff,
who now rules the Church, introduced from the
very commencement of his pontificate, a series of
beneficial measures, calculated to confer freedom
and happiness on his people ? Had he not consid-
erably augmented the lay element in the adminis-
tration, alleviated the public burdens, improved
the collection of the taxes, established a Council of
Finance and a Council of State, extended the
powers of the Provincial Administrative Bodies,
encouraged agriculture, commerce, and manufac-
tures, an lastly, opened a central Parliament in
Rome itself ? Was it not the fatal French Revol-
ution of 1848 that first thwarted, and the Red
Republicans and Socialists of Italy that utterly
prevented the Pontiff's wise and generous mea-
sures ? His was no rash, innovating policy ; for
Pius IX. had, with a few exceptions, but returned
to the political system of his predecessors. The
Protestant historian, Niebuhr, remarks that prior
to the invasion of the French Jacobins, in 1796,
the provinces of the Papal States enjoyed a va-
riety of free constitutions, adapted to their wants,
and that it was the French who introduced into
those States the system of bureaucratic centralisa-
tiOn. And it was the retention of that system by
Cardinal Consalvi, after the peace of 1814, that
was one of the causes of the embarrassments of
the Papal Government prior to the Italian Revolu-
tion. The system of Confederation here suggested
approved itself to the judgment of the French Em-
peror himself. But the moment he selected for
proposing such a scheme was most inopportune.
After he had been the means of expelling not only
thßbAnstrian Emperor, but all the other legitimate
Sovereigns from the North of Italy, he proposed to
the Pope and to the King of Naples to enter into
a Confederation with the new King of Italy, who
had already seized a portion of the Papal do-
minions, And whose counsels were guided by men

most hostile to religion and to social order. This
would, forsooth, have been strange society for the
Pontiff and the King of Naples. It is, however,
such a prince—the miserable tool of the infidel
and revolutionary party—Napoleon 111. succours
by his arms, and, without the least provocation
from the Emperor of Austria or the Italian princes,
helps to establish on the ruins of their thrones.
The victories of the French in Italy are dearly
bought; the armies of Austria display their
valour and skill ; and it is only by recent improve-
ments in their artillery the French gain the ad-
vantage over foes in every respect worthy of
themselves. The battles of Solferino and Magenta
will ever be memorable for the obstinate bravery
displayed by all the troops engaged, whether
on the side of the victors or of the vanquished.
That young, chivalrous descendant of the House
of Hapsburg, who, from the hour he has ascended
the Imperial throne, has known so much sorrow,
who has had so bitterly to expiate the faults of
his ancestors, was here denied the garland of vic-
tory. During this very campaign, the Emperor
of the French, in despite of his solemn promise to
the Pope, suffers his Piedmontese ally to occupy the
Romagna, and take permanent possession of it.
This was the first act of spoliation perpetrated on
the territory of the Church. In the treaty of
Zurich, indeed, which followed on the conclusion
of the peace with Austria, the integrity of the
Papal dominions was guaranteed. But this, like
other good resolutions, remained a dead letter.
On the other hand, the disinterested services of
the French Emperor were not to go unrewarded,
and Nice and Savoy were by this treaty annexed
to his •empire. He had gone, he alleged, into
Italy to combat for "an idea." But this was
evidently not the pure, spiritual idea spoken of
by metaphysicians ; but one which they call a
notion, that is, an idea deduced from the senses.
What shall I say of the treacherous, buccaneering
expedition against Sicily and Naples, conducted
with the secret connivance of the Sardinian Go-
vernment, by desperate revolutionary bandits ?
Scarcely had the Revolution despoiled the King of
Naples of his territory, when as the small but cour-
ageous army of the Pope, headed by the heroic
Lamoriciere and Pimodan were waiting to com-
bat the buccaneers from the south, they were,
without any declaration of hostilities, assailed by
the Piedmontese marauders from the north. In
despite of its acts of valour, the noble little army
succumbed, of • course, to superior numbers. But
all this while the great Imperial defender of the
Church, who had again given the Pope solemn
assurances that his dominions should be preserved
inviolate to him, looked with folded arms on
this sacrilegious robbery. Words of vain pro-
test could deceive neither friend nor foe. Since
the treacherous enticing away of King Ferdinand
VII. and of the royal family of Spain to Bayonne
by the First Napoleon, had an act of more flagi-
tious perfidy- been ever perpetrated than the one
here spoken of ? Had not Pope Pius IX. reason
to say to the French Ambassador, " Your Emperor
has cheated me. He guaranteed to me the in-
tegrity of my States." Could not a word, a ges-
ture, a wink of the eye from this puissant Em-
peror have stayed the march of the Piedmontese
roops into the Roman territory ? This sad his-
tory will be brought to a close in the next number.